Tattooed Angel
by Time-Stopping-666
Summary: Akefia wants to get a tattoo with his friend Malik, but his father says no. What or who will the two meet when they arrive at the tattoo shop. Ryou x Akefia: Gemshipping and hinted Malik x Marik: Bronzeshipping. Possible Bakushipping as well WARNING! Chapter two contains physical abuse and hints of sexual abuse by a parental!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys here is my very first one shot! I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh nor do I own the characters Marik, Malik, Akefia or Ryou. *cries in the corner asking why over and over***

"You are not getting a tattoo and that is final young man!" An enraged voice echoed from the kitchen. A man at the age of forty five stood there, his arms neatly crossed over his chest. His skin, naturally tanned, is callused from years of working in the hot climate of Africa, Egypt to be exact. His job as an Archaeologist required him to travel quite a lot. The man's long blue hair is pulled back into a low pony tail at the base of his neck with a black ribbon; his eyes are a deep murky green, hidden behind tin black frames. Those murky eyes began to narrow as the rest of his face pulls into an authoritative scowl. His chest and arms are covered up with a white button down shirt while his legs were wrapped in freshly pressed black dress pants.

"And why can't I? It is not like it is your skin is going on!" A deeper yet equally enraged voice shouted back. The owner of this voice is a young man at the age of twenty two. He stood in front of the blue haired man, his tan hands balled into fists at his sides. His silvery hair lands ruggedly at the base of his neck. Cold lavender eyes, one having a white scar run down his face that finishes just above the cheek bone with two horizontal crosses through the first, bore into those murky green authoritative eyes of his father. His chest is clad in a red form fitting V-neck athletic shirt while his legs were wrapped in loose black jeans.

"Can you please stop fighting?" A quite voice came from the kitchen table. There sat a young girl at the age of thirteen. She has short, snow white hair that lay in soft curls against her shoulders. Her skin was a healthy pale color that seemed to have a tint of pink mixed in. Her eyes appeared to be a light pink color that bordered lavender. Adorned her body was a red, pink, and white plaid dress, with white thigh high stockings. Underneath her dress was a white shirt, for she is modest and timid by nature in personality and with her body. On both her wrists were two bracelets consisting of either large white or pink balls. "You two always fight when Otou-san comes to visit. Can't we just try to get along for one day?"

"Amane is right Akefia. Just forget about getting that stupid tattoo and just relax at home with us." The man who appeared to be their father spoke with a smirk on his face, believing his son would bend to Amane's wishes in his favor. Said girl just sighed and slumped further into her seat, not enjoying being used by her father as leverage towards her older brother.

His assumption, however, was miscalculated when his son matched his smirk with one of his won, though it appeared to be more defiant. "Forget about my tattoo my ass. I will come back and relax with you and Amane after I am done." Akefia crossed his arms over his muscled chest as smirk quickly changed into a sinister scowl. "Oh and never use Amane-chan as leverage against me ever again. She is not a tool like the ones you use back in Egypt."

The father paid no mind to his son's threat. His face contorted in frustration as he let out a deep sigh. He brought two fingers to his right temple and began softly rubbing small circles into his calloused skin. "Look I am fine with all the other life choices you made, such as letting your hair grow out and getting your left ear pierced. But why do you all of a sudden have a wanting to get a tattoo anyway? You won't be able to remove it unless you go through surgery."

"I promised a good friend of mine on his eighteenth birthday that whenever he was to get a tattoo, I would be there with him and get my own as well." Akefia spoke to his father as if he was a small child who asked why ice floats in the river.

"So this is all over a promise you made to a friend? That is a completely irrational reason to get a tattoo. I forbid you to do this!" The blue hairs man raised his voice to the younger adult. His hand left his right temple and is once again placed on his hips along with the other. "Think of what everyone would say about this, about me?"

"What is this? Are you afraid I will become an even bigger stain on your appearance with your colleagues than before, Akio? Oops, I am so sorry. My manners seemed to have stepped out the door at that moment. What I meant to say was Otou- _san_." Akefia sneered and he scowled at his father once again.

"That is besides the point Akefia! You are not leaving this house and that is final!" Akio ordered as the tone in his voice turned loud and deep. Akefia scoffed at the man whose presence believed he deserves the most respect from anyone and everyone.

"Oh then tell me this, what are you going to do _Otou-san_? Tell me to go to my room and think about what I did? Ground me from leaving the house and take away my computer?" Akefia mockingly said to his father. "Please like you can." Akefia began to make his way to the kitchen door to search for his wallet and keys. However he was stopped by his father voice.

"Oh I know I can't. That is why I took precautions before we even had this conversation." Akio gave his son a sweet smile that made Akefia feel sick to his stomach. "I mean, since you are not small anymore, I can't put you in your room anymore or effectively ground you. So the only way I can punish you is to take away your phone, car keys, and of course I could not forget the wallet, and lock them away where you won't find them. Does that not sound like a fantastic solution?"

Akefia growled at his father in anger. "Why do you even fucking care about what they think you prick! You are a selfish man." Akefia shouted as he walked briskly towards the kitchen door. As Akefia crossed the threshold of the kitchen he heard his father call after him angrily, "And where do you think you are going young man?" Akefia just scoffed and ran up the stairs towards his room.

Amane just sat at the kitchen table looking tired and annoyed. Every time their father came to visit them, the two of them would always fight. She tries to speak up every once and a while, though none of which ended well. She would either be used as leverage with her father or Akefia would kindly tell her not to interrupt. She knew Akefia did not want her to get dragged into the disputes between the two of them, but she still tried. She flinched when she heard the door loudly slam shut to her brother's room.

Amane then turned to her father and gave him a look of disbelief. "Otou-san, why did you do that?"

"Oh, don't tell me you are siding with this behavior Amane-chan." Akio gave his daughter a tired look.

Amane gave her father a sweetly innocent look. "I never said that Otou-san. I was just asking you a question, is that so bad?"

Akio sighed as he began to rub his right temple again with two fingers. "No, no it is not. I did this because he needs to learn that his actions affect others, such as myself, and even you."

"But Otou-san-" Amane tried to speak again but her father cut her off.

"Amane-chan, don't push the subject any farther. I am tired and my head is starting to hurt. Could you put the kettle on for me?" Akio asked his daughter as he left the kitchen towards the living room, to lie down on the couch most likely. Amane sighed and did as her father was told, grumbling to herself.

"Does anyone ask what Amane wants? Oh no, no, no, of course not, they believe they know what I want before asking. Children the lot of them." Amane muttered to herself as she picks up the kettle and fills it with water from their tap. "Go make me tea Amane; your Otou-san has a headache right now." She placed the metal kettle on the stove and set the correct burner to high. Amane sighed to herself, frustrated with both males behavior. She once again takes her seat at the table and drums her fingers on the counter top. She did not dislike her brother getting a tattoo, she encourages it in fact. Letting her brother be his own person rather than what their father wanted him to be.

Her mind set, she waited for the water to come to a boil before pouring the water into the pot for the tea to steep. After a couple more minutes, she finally has the tea fully prepared in a blue ceramic mug. She then turns towards and approached the living room threshold, careful not to spill the hot substance. She gave it to her father who was in fact on the couch resting with a book in his hands. "Here you are Otou-san, just how you like it. A dash of milk and a little bit sugar to take the edge off." Amane then swiftly left the room before her father can ask her to stay and sit with him. She slips up the stairs quietly, and looks into her brother's room. She sees him laying there on his bed, blaring music into his head through his headphones. Amane shakes her head softly, her white curls brushing against her pale cheeks.

Slipping past, she enters her father's room and immediately went to that bath room. "Hides it away in a safe under lock and key my little butt." She muttered and went to the toilet seat and lifted the lid from the top as quietly as possible. Inside, in a gallon zip lock bag was a wallet, car keys, and a cell phone. She had seen her father hide her brother's things in here before when Akefia was in high school and harder to manage because of how much bigger he became compared to their Otou-san. She never told either one of them, unless it was important and she felt in her heart that her brother should do this though she is unsure of why.

After placing the white lid back on the toilet, she raced out of the bath room and straight into her brother's. Without giving Akefia any warning, she pounced onto his stomach, giggling at the high yelp he let out. As she did this, she let go of the plastic bag just as her arm reached the side of the bed next to the wall, so her brother would not see it. Akefia ripped off his headphones and mock glared at his little sister. "Amane! Why did you do that you little dork." Akefia said as a playful grin broke out on his face. He grabbed her into a playful head lock and began digging his tan knuckled into her snow white hair, this only caused the girl to giggle and squirm in his grip.

"Hehehe, Akefia-kun! Stop it!" She squealed in delight. She hears her brother chuckle as he releases her from his strong hold. She giggles and playfully rubbed her neck and gasped for hair, "Finally away from the stink cloud!" She giggled again when Akefia balked and insisted he was not a 'stink cloud' as she so graciously put it, though he did check just to be sure. He grabbed her and set her in his lap with both of their legs stretched out in front of them, side by side.

"You little dork, what is your real reason for coming in here?" Akefia inquired as he turned off his music, yet let his headphones hang around his neck.

"OH! Right!" She crawled out of her brother's lap and towards the side of the bed. Akefia gave Amane a confused look before they widened when he saw the bag with his stuff in it. He was even more surprised when she held it out for him to grab.

"Amane-chan, where on earth did you get these?" He demanded as he took the plastic bag from her outstretched hand. He opened the bag to check if the contents were ok and relieved to find they were dry and in the same condition he left them in. "Does Akio know you have this?"

She giggled at her brother's surprised look on his face. "One at a time you dummy. Dad always hides your stuff he takes away in the toilet head in his bath room since you entered high school and had your 'growth spurt' as he calls it. And no, Otou-san does not know... Actually I think he should be asleep right about now." Seeing her brother's confused look she giggled once again and continued, "He said his head was hurting and asked for tea. Instead of the PG tips like he gets, I gave him sleepy time tea that he drinks on nights when he can't sleep."

Akefia looked at her, his mouth gaping in surprise on how much of a shadow hand his little sister can be. Regaining his train of thoughts, he asked his little sister one last question. "Amane, why did you do this for me?"

"Well you were so set on getting this tattoo with your friend. You seemed so excited and happy to do this, I just could not see you mad and upset just because Otou-san told you no. Plus I have a feeling like you should do this. I don't know if it is because you will be like a symbol of you being yourself or something else. You aren't upset with me that I did this are you?" She began to feel the guilt of not only disobeying her father but tried to put him to sleep even. She looked at Akefia with remorse in her lavender pink eyes only to be brought tightly into a hug.

"I could never be mad at you Amane, not now not ever. Do you understand me? I would not trade you for any other sister in the world." He pulled back but never let go of Amane and gave his sister a chaste kiss to the forehead. "Now can you give me smile you little dork or will I have to tickle it out of you?" Akefia, not waiting for an answer, assaulted his little sister with torturous tickling. He chuckled when he saw her giggling, telling him to stop. After thinking on the command for a few lingering moments, he finally let up on her and gave her a sweet smile. "There is that smile I was looking for."

"Oh get your tattoo already, you going to be late as it is already." Amane chastised her brother who chuckled and ruffled her hair before leaving the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wait, you are not the tattoo artist?" A voice rang from inside a small shop in that lay snugly between a small cafe and a fragrance shop. Within this small shop, surrounded by different, artistic designs is an Egyptian man at the appeared to be the age of twenty one. He stood at the counter with his light lavender eyes, lined in black kohl that trailed down just above his cheeks, casting the man before him a disappointed look. His blonde bangs are tucked behind both of his un-pierced ears, while the rest just rests below his shoulders. His chest was adorned in an army camo V-neck shirt whose hues were different shades of gray rather than the iconic green, black, and brown. Wrapped around his legs were tight leather pants with a wallet chain hanging off the side as his feet were tucked into two simple black boots.

"No, I am not. Why does that surprise you so much?" A confused baritone came from the man behind the glass counter which contains different types of tattoo designs and earrings. The owner of this deep voice was a tall, bronze skinned man. His blonde hair appeared to have the roots run towards the back of his head while the rest flared in every way possible within small clusters. The man's inquisitive eyes were a captivating shade of violet which are too lined in black Kohl. His chest was covered in a black muscle shirt while his legs were wrapped in loose, black Jeans. Down his long legs lay his large feet, snugly tucked into black gym-shoes. "I am sorry but what is your name?"

"It is Malik. As for your previous question...well, you are the only one here as far as I know..." Malik left a pregnant pause for the man before him to hopefully fill in his own name. After a few moments the realization came to the man's face before he apologetically uttered out, "Oh sorry, it is Marik."

"No, no you are fine. But continuing my previous train of thought before it is gone never to return again, why do you do here?" Malik blurted out at a quick pace.

"What I do here is piercings, but as store police we do nothing below the navel, with the acceptation of leg tattoos from the knee-cap down." Marik stated in a matter of fact tone. "Though if it makes you feel better, I am taking classes so I can get certified, as I had done with body piercing. Not only that but I am learning to become a tattoo artist from the guy who will be working on your today. He is really skilled with his shading of colors and creating designs. The guy collaborated with me with the tattoos I have not and would often give them a touch up when they fade." Marik held out his arms to show the tanned boy the ink on his shoulders. Circling his right bicep was a battered, silver snake with a small, golden apple in it's mouth. Across the snakes stomach was a bloody scar that spelled out the words _sinful betrayal_. On his left bicep was a statue of a woman with a toga on, her hair taken into a ponytail. The woman's eyes are covered in a blind fold as he holds a scale up in her left hand with a sword in her right, Lady Justice. Though on each plate of the scales has an outline of a man, his back facing the other. Etched into the base of her statue are the words _Trusting Blindly_. "They are pretty self explaining if you ask me."

"Could you explain them to me? So I can see them from your perspective?" Malik inquired in a curious tone. Malik had a good idea of what the arms represented, but he wanted to hear how the owner sees them rather than assume.

Marik looked at Malik in surprise, not expecting him to be so inquisitive about his tattoos. The tall man just nodded before clearing his throat. "Well, on my right arm, you see a battered snake with and apple in its mouth. He is supposed to represent the betrayal others have done onto me or I them. Always following like a shadow on mine and their past or what will be their future. On my right arm you see Lady Justice. She is supposed to be that on both sides of her scale, I and another person decided to trust the other. Now she has quite a story that is linked to the snake. Would you like to hear it?" When Malik gave him a quick nod, Marik chuckled before continuing. "Ok, Ok. In the beginning, the Lady and snake were close, trusting companions doing everything together. As the Lady grew older, she was given responsibilities that left her with little time to be with her companion. One day, when the snake was wondering through a garden, he found an apple tree with an old man sitting underneath; he offered to be his friend and his fruit, which the snake greedily accepted. He quickly ate the fruit without thinking and it changed him. It made him jealous of the Lady. He blinded Lady Justice out of spite, thinking that if she can't see, she will spend more time with him because she can no longer complete her tasks. But he did not know that she did not need her sight to see, but her hearing and touch would suffice. She used these senses to enact her punishment upon the snake by giving him the scars and wounds as he appears on my arm. This shows that we won't know if the scale will tip with betrayal until it happened, and justice will follow suit." Marik smiled and crossed his arms on the glass counter top, leaning his upper body weight onto them. "Does that give a sufficient answer?

Marik stared, his mouth gaping at the man before him. "Wow... I had no idea it went that deep. I am guessing you put a lot of time and thought into this as well as a past experience?" Lavender eyes looked curiously into the others surprised deep violet. All Malik receives as an answer is a soft nod.

The two stood there in silence before a while before Malik cleared his throat. "Well, why don't we get back onto why I am going to be getting today."

Marik snapped his eyes back into focus. "Yes of course. I suspect that you will be getting a tattoo today, correct?' Malik nodded with a grin, which we returned. "Do you have a design picked out already?"

"Yes, my good sir I do have one." Malik grabbed the binder he left open in the sitting room. Opening to the page he book marked, it showed a circle with two wings coming out the sides. "This is the one I want." Marik nodded before taking out a form and writing down the code: 'W2#8' in the box title box Labeled _Tattoo._

"Ok, where are you going to be getting this?" Marik questioned to which Malik told him his upper back. Marik nods and checks a series of boxes before nodding to Malik. "Ok one more question, are you going to have shading of another color within the wings and circle or no?" When Marik noticed the confused look on Malik's face he just chuckled and left the box blank. "When you get in there, he will explain it to you. Other than that, is there anything else you are going to have done today?" Marik inquired, but not pushing any offers as any clothing stores clerk would do. Marik is surprised when Malik nodded his head and extracted two gold earrings with a 2 pound diamond shaped gold pieces hanging from the golden hoop.

"I would like to get my ears pierced as well. Could you take a look at these and help me find a proper earring before I can wear them?" Malik spoke formally as he watched Marik pick up an earring examining the diameter of the ring. Marik seemed to stop and think for a second before putting the earring down and turned his back to Marik, muttering that he will be back in a second. Malik just nodded and drummer his fingers on the counter top. As he was waiting he heard the door chime sound and he turned just in time to catch sight of his friend walking into the store. A grin spread onto Malik's face as he waved his tall friend over. "Akefia you made it!"

"You think I would break a Tozukou promise? I am shocked and appalled." Akefia pouted as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Well, when I tried to contact you on your cell, it went straight to voice mail with your dad as the voice mail box, Basically calling everything associated with you a wanker and to bugger off. I don't even know what a wanker is! I could only assume the worst at that point. Do you blame me?" Malik nearly shouted, annoyed with the half-albino's father.

"You do not want to know Malik, trust me on this." Marik spoke as he came back with two earrings in his hand. "I see another wanderer has happened upon this little shop that we have unconsciously gathered you here today. Good to see mind control is finally working." Marik laid one of the two earrings on the counter while he picked up one of gold, examining the diameter of both. "So since I can't read minds, only control them, what brought you here today Half-Albino?"

Akefia gave him a blank look before smirking though his eyes gave off a small glare "It is Akefia, not Half-Albino. I am here to get a tattoo with my good friend Malik right here." He pats the Egyptian next to him on his shoulder.

Marik smirked at the two before him. "Nah, I think I like Half-Albino more, but since you are a paying customer, I _guess_ I could call you by your real name." His smirk only widened when he heard Malik chuckled. "Anyway, I found an earring that matches this width, but you are going to have to slowly increase the weight you put on your ears rather than put these on right away." Marik pointed to the earrings Malik brought in before continuing. "They will tear your ear." Malik nodded quickly, listening to the man before him as he explains how to prevent this.

"So other than that the tattoo and you appointment with me like you wanted, is there anything else?" Marik questioned.

Malik was about to speak, but another voice from the back room beat him to it. "Ok Marik, I finished cleaning the equipment. You can send the next one in." The voice was light as id drifted to the occupant's ears. When Malik received a questioning look from Marik, he quickly shook his head, silently telling him that he has everything he wanted. Marik gave a quick nod, writing a few more things on the form and handed it to Malik.

"Go through the hall way and it should be the second door on the left. When you are done there, go into the room across the hall that is where I work." Marik pointed the way before turning to the other tanned man. "Ha-Akefia." Marik corrected himself while sniggering, "Sorry, I will work on that. You can go with and watch Malik get his tattoo, or if you want you can wait out here and look for a tattoo. Though it may take an hour or two till it is finished."

Malik looked at his friend with a curious look. "If it is alright with you Malik, I will just stay here, listen to music and look for my tattoo." Malik nodded before making his way down the hall. Though when he looked down at the form, he noticed a small note a paperclip held to the top. Curious, he removed the folded paper and opened it, and immediately blushed. Upon the note in neat writing was the message; _I would like to know the story behind your tattoo, Call me sometime._ Below this scrawl was a series of numbers that what Malik assumed to make up the man's number. Grinning, he put the slip of paper in his front pocked before entering the room only to be surprised by the one whom occupies it. "YOU WORK HERE?!"

Akefia chuckled when he heard his friend screech, before making his way to the sitting lounge. He was about to get comfortable on the plush leather seats when a grunt caught his attention. He turned to see Marik standing in front of the entrance to the back rooms. "Ok, I am going to go and prepare my equipment for the piercing. The bathroom is the first door on the right in this hall way, you know where Marik is, if you are chose your design early you can come find me. But if you are bored, come find me and I can 'keep you company'." Marik put air quoted around the last three words of his sentence.

"By, keep me company, you mean getting work out of me that you are too lazy to do?" Akefia inquired with a smirk on his face.

"You are a perceptive Half-Albino aren't you? I applaud you." Marik snickered and clapped his hands mockingly for Akefia.

Akefia just rolled his eyes at the mockery being displayed before him before dishing out a retort of his own. "I am just surprised you are leaving the room where I can easily access you register."

"The register isn't even in this room dip shit. We are not that stupid with where we keep our money like other's stores." Marik rolled his eyes before leaving the lounge are of the little shop.

Akefia just snickered as put his red and black head set over his ears as he relaxed onto the blush leather couch. Akefia grabbed one of the white binders from the coffee table and began paging through the vast images it contains. Though after an hour, Akefia could not settle on a design and slowly began to day dream as music blared into his ears.

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As Marik predicted, two hours and thirty minutes passed before Marik was finished. Upon his back was the design he asked for, but instead of being an outlining of the wings, the feathers near the base are pure white as the tips are crimson red. the orb in under the base of his neck which the two wings sprout from is a shimmering gold. As Malik stood in front of the door way he just exited, he listened to the man talk for a few more minutes before nodding with a smile and entering Marik's work area. Just as Malik left, the man within the room crossed the threshold and approached the lounge, in search of any other customers.

As his emerald eyes landed upon a lounging tanned man, he smiled and approached him, effectively gaining his attention. Akefia stared wide eyed at the albino man before him. Long, white hair was brought up into a pony tail. The man's ears were covered in earrings while his emerald eyes stuck out with black eye liner. The man before him was wearing a gray and black long sleeved shirt with a black Twenty One Pilots shirt over top. His legs were clad in Dark blue skinny jeans with black, ankle high combat booth. around the boys neck was a black leather choker with small, evenly spaces silver studs in the center. "Sir, have you made your decision yet?" The light accented voice he heard earlier sounded through his head yet again.

Akefia snapped out of his dazed with a small blush of embarrassment staining his cheeks. "Sorry, no I could not. I was having trouble finding a good one to use as a symbol." Akefia just scratched the back of his head looking across at his feet that were placed on the other side of the couch. Akefia quickly sat up, realizing how rude he was being. "I am so sorry about that, I am Akefia." He raised his hand out to shake the young man before him.

"Ryou, nice to meet you. and your perfectly fine" The man smiled before taking Akefia's hand in his own, giving it a firm shake before dropping it as he took a seat next to Akefia. "So I am guessing you are getting your first?" Akefia gave him a now and Ryou nearly squealed. "Awesome! A blank canvas for me to work on! Today is a good day!" Akefia just chuckled at the man's blatant enthusiasm.

Ryou spun back around to Akefia with a wide grin on his face. "Now you are having a problem finding a tattoo you say?" Akefia gave the Ryou a small nod. "I may be able to help you, come on." He commanded before rising from the couch and walking towards the back room, Akefia following behind into the. The work room Ryou occupies is neat and organized with papers organized neatly in wall holders and the necessary equipment and ink placed on either on a rolling cart or the table under the wall holders. A large dental like chair that could easily be converted into a flat bed for those who choose to have their lower backs worked on. Next to the convertible chair is the rolling cart and a stool for the artist to sit in while working. "If you could have a seat we can talk about what you want done. OH! Wait before you sit down, are you twenty one or up because you need a parents' permission otherwise."

Akefia gave him an insulted look. "I am twenty two thank you very much. You look like you are barely pushing twenty if you ask me."

Ryou, after seeing the look he was being sent, quickly raised his hands into the air in front of him as he tried to make amends. "I am so sorry. It is just that people about your stature tried to get tattoos here once without parents' permission who were around seventeen." Ryou's expression suddenly changed from apologetic to one that could mirror Akefia's irritation. "And I am twenty three thank you very much young scrub."

TO say Akefia was surprised was an understatement when he heard that the young man before him was actually a year older than him. "How about we call a truce on this before this turns into death con five.

Akefia sat himself in the dental like chair as Ryou took the rolling stool, his arms crossed across the back rest and lent forward. "Now that we are all comfy and cozy in this little slice of the shop, do you want to tell me about what you want to have your tattoo symbolize or would you like a personal example?" Ryou questioned with a lazy grin.

Akefia gave him a curious look. "Wait, are you telling me you have tattoos of your own?"

Ryou gave him an amused smirk. "Of course I do." When he saw Akefia go to apologize, Ryou just waved him off as his smirk turned to a sly grin. "Oh don't worry about it. I get that comment all the time from those who wonder into my shop. They all think Marik out there goes the tattoos while I do piercings, not even that sometimes." Ryou chuckled.

Akefia composed himself and gave the albino a cheeky grin. "Could I see them? They could help me make a decision." His grin grew when he saw Ryou give him a cheery nod and rolled up his sleeve. All the way up to the shoulder on the left arm was a scroll wrapping around to the man's wrist. The scroll's condition is pristine at the top of the shoulder, but deteriorates to the point of it being burnt in some areas as it travels to the wrist. Across the scroll are sentences upon sentences ranging from complements near the top and insults near the bottom. On the right arm, as is a full sleeve like the other arm, are many different flowers weaving in and out of skulls, but that was only the top half. On the under belly of the arm were daggers that looked to have drawn blood on the arm. The pools of blood the various weapons lay upon is where the roots of the beautiful flowers sprout from.

"Well why don't I start with the left arm, if that is alright with you?" Ryou questioned, and continued when he receives a nod from the half albino next to him. "Well this arm represents my life. Up at the top of my arm were the scroll is in pristine condition are all the compliments I have received but as you look down my arm you see that the scroll becomes worn and damages and the compliments turn sour and into insults. The reason it is on my left arm is that the compliments I was given that mean the most to me are close to my heart. The insults that are closer to my hand are those that I can easily throw away and keep going. Though they can easily be reversed because they are still on the same arm. So the insults given to me are held to my heart as motivation and the compliments, if empty or if I lose any pleasant relationship between that person can be thrown away if needed.

"Now on my right arm is the temptation of death. Each of the flowers weaving through the skulls are poisonous and even deadly to people. They represent how beautiful death can be to those who are depressed or just want to be gone from their life. Though on the underbelly of my arm is how ugly death truly is. That if you were to truly escape on your own will, the pain that would be experiences and what you would do to yourself. The blood that is shown is the source and food for the roots of the gorgeous flowers that grow more vibrant the more they feed. Easily lying about the in pain and suffering those go through just to see their beautiful misleading guise."

Akefia just stared at Ryou as the albino rolled his sleeves back down with a small sad smile on his lips. When Ryou finished covering his arms, he turned back to the tanned man before him. "Now I want you to tell me what you want your tattoo to symbolize and I think I can help you find what you are looking for."

Akefia nodded and began to think aloud. "Well I wanted something to symbolize me and my thirteen old sister. She is this sweet girl that reminds me so much of my late mother every day. I don't deserve to have someone like her and neither does my father, the selfish bastard." Akefia cleared his throat when he noticed Ryou's confused look. "Story for another time. Anyway, she has patched me up whenever I get into fights, which should answer your question about my scar on my face." Ryou blushed in embarrassment when he was being so obvious. Akefia ruffled the boys hair most of them the other's fault while others is because of my damn mouth. She would listen to me when I am frustrated or practicing a speech for school. We help each other with homework, cooking, and chores. I hold her when she is afraid or in tears. Hell I even braid her hair when she needs another hand." Akefia rambled on about him and his sister and Ryou just sat there and listening intently, a smile plastered on his face as him mind draws up past memories.

When Akefia finished is little drabble, Ryou stood up and started looking through his wall files. A small sound of enjoyment sounded from his mouth as he pulled out a tan piece of paper. He sat back down in the rolling stool and handed Akefia the design. It had a white pristine lily on the right side of a pointed sharp dagger, the bald and the stem intersecting. behind the two is a baby blue diamond shield in the shape of a heart. "From what I heard you say, it sounds like you sister is a lily, soft and beautiful while you are a dagger, harsh and blunt. You love each other very much that nothing harder than diamond can break, which is the shield. Though through this love, you two can swap personalities in a sense to protect of comport the other, thus the connected stem and blade." Ryou looked hopefully at Akefia, wishing that he made a good choice.

Akefia was at a loss for words as he stared at the picture. How, how could this man before him pick out the one thing he had been looking for. "It is perfect, it is utterly perfect." Akefia smiled sweetly and looked at Ryou, who had a childish grin on his face, proud of himself.

"That phrase is going at the top of my scroll!" Ryou stated with pride as he turned to get the inks ready. Akefia just chuckled at this response, staring at the boy before him. Without any notice, his heart surged when he saw Ryou look at him out of the corner of his eye, smile growing.

Akefia could not take his eyes away from the boy as he watched him work. The reason behind this Akefia did not know but he wanted to have the man's attention back on him, he wanted to hear his soft voice chuckle and speak again rather than mute and stare at equipment. Suddenly Ryou noticed that Ryou was sitting right in from of him, his lips moving but no noise came out. Shaking his head when Ryou waves a hand in front of his face. Ryou chuckles softly when he sees Akefia snap back into attention. "Hehehe, you space out a lot don't you Akefia." Said man just looked away scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "What I said was, were do you want your tattoo." Ryou began putting on latex gloves.

"Oh, I wanted to get it on my left shoulder blade." Akefia then proceeded to remove his red shirt, doing his best to ignore the blush spreading across Ryou's face. The blushing male just occupied himself with dropping the head rest to allow Akefia to rest comfortably against the seat.

Once Akefia situated himself against himself, Ryou began to wipe down the patch of skin where he will be working. "Hey." Ryou spoke up, effectively gaining Akefia's attention as he wet the stencil for the tattoo and placed it on his skin. "Do you want me to put on some music? Because this may take some time."

Akefia gave the man a nod coupled with a smile. "Sure, here is my Ipod, choose any music you like on there." Akefia pulled out a small hand held device and removed his head phones. Ryou accepted the object with a small smile and went back over to his work table. Sitting near the back of the equipment was a jack for the IPod in which Ryou immediately plugged in.

"You have some awesome tunes." Ryou commented as he scrolled through the play lists. "No way, you have The Killers greatest hits Album? My choice is made, you are stuck with it." Ryou grinned as he pressed play an music sounded through the room. Akefia noticed that the jack must have been hooked up to a stereo system because there are speakers he did not notice before all around the room as the first song of the album _Mr. Brightside_ rung through the room.

Akefia heard a faint buzzing sound through the room, realizing Ryou was preparing to make the first mark. "Are you ready?" He questioned Akefia, who gave him a thumbs up. Ryou just nodded and began working on the image. To say that it did not hurt would be a lie, though he would not tell anyone else that. He blushed when Ryou jokingly questioned if he saw tears building in the corner of his eyes. He did not cry damn it...or at least that is what everyone else but the two of them will know.

As three hour passes, the buzzing stopped and the sound of metal clanking on a plastic surface sounded through the room over the music which was later cut. "Well my big baby trooper, it is done! How does it feel to have your first tattoo?" Ryou questioned with a teasing grin as he grabbed the man's shirt and lead the man into the hall so he can see the new addition to his skin.

Akefia grinned when he looked upon the image. "I am glad that I got it done, but I did not know it would hurt that much." Ryou just smiled at him while handing the man his shirt and music device.

"Well it was close to you shoulder blade. So there was less skin and fat to take away the pain. Do you like the job I did?" Akefia turned his head back towards the artist and gave him a wide smile. "I love it." Akefia then surprised Ryou and gave him a big hug, who immediately tensed, shocked about what was happening. Just as Akefia was going to end the poor boys embarrassment, he felt two small, yet muscled arms, wrap around the man's waist, returning the kind gesture.

"Hey Akefia, I just heard the music turn off, are you d-" Malik's voice rang out as his image appeared at the end of the hall way. Though he was quick to cut off when he saw the scene before him. Akefia noticed that through the younger man's ears were two gold earrings. He looked at him silently with a smirk on his face when he saw Malik's shocked expression. Said man gave his friend a thumbs up before heading back to the lounge.

Ryou, not too long after Malik left, removed himself from the warm, comforting embrace. "Now let's get your rung up." Ryou then turned and headed back into his office and filled out the form for Akefia. Little did Ryou, Akefia noticed the blatant blush covering the boys cheeks as he disappeared.

When Akefia followed the boy back into the room, his shirt back on his body, Ryou turned and smiled at him. "That my good sir will cost you eighty dollars."

Akefia pulled out his wallet and handed him a small plastic card, it was his father's that he swiped before he left the house. Ryou accepted it with a nod before opening a locked cabinet that contained a metal register. After running the card and coming out good, Ryou handed Akefia his card, a small slip of paper proving his purchase, as well as a card with a number on it. "Here you go Akefia. Now here is my card if you ink starts to fade and you shoulder should be tender for a few days so try not to get into too many fight will you?" Akefia just chuckled and saluted Ryou with two fingers.

"Yes sir, Ryou sir." Ryou just chuckled and lead him to the front of the shop.

Ryou noticed as he entered the lounge that Marik and Malik were both shooting him and Akefia face splitting grins. "I don't know if I should be unnerved by their facial expressions or curious to see how more identical they can be."

"I think unnerved is the best thing to feel. I don't want to know your other question." Akefia stared at the two from behind Ryou, giving them both a glare telling to knock off their teasing, but that only encouraged the two even more.

"Hey Marik, did you know that Ryou goes to my and Akefia's college?" Akefia's eyes widened at this, not knowing this new piece of information.

"Wait you do?" Akefia questioned the pale boy in front of him, ignoring the twin devils before them.

"Hmm?" Ryou looked up at Akefia before nodding his head. "Yeah, Malik is in half of the classes I take. I think he is minoring in art, but that is my major. my minor is robotics. Though he did not really recognize me at first because I have to dress like a pampered prat for college just so some of my teachers don't see me as a trouble maker and start name grading me." Before Akefia could question him further on the subject, an annoying voice once again blocked Akefia's chance at a normal conversation.

"Ok enough of the chit chat." Malik raised his voice, effectively gaining the attention of everyone in the lounge area. "Ryou, Marik, and I were going to go hang out after he finished Akefia's tattoo. And since he is closing up shop early, I was wondering if we could drag you along as well?"

"Are you going to bleed my wallet dry Malik like the last time we hung out?" Akefia questioned irritably, remembering the last time the two 'hung out'.

"Fine, I will pay this time, happy?" Malik pouted while Marik just patted his shoulder in reassurance. Akefia just sighed and gave an nod to his tall friend. Marik, Malik and Akefia exited the shop, soon followed by Ryou a few minutes later as he turned off the power and locked the doors.

As the four wandered throughout the city together, Malik and Marik side by side with Akefia and Ryou trailing behind, they went in and out of stores, sometimes buying a few things before leaving. Half way though, Malik and Marik decided to see a movie while Ryou and Akefia just hung back, not wanting to be in a loud room filled with other people at the time. Akefia and Ryou then wandered the streets before coming to a rest at a cafe nearby. As the two talked more and more over their hot drinks, the more the feelings between the two grew.

Then when it started to get dark out, Ryou and Akefia went their separate ways, though not before exchanging their cell numbers. When Ryou turned to leave Akefia grabbed Ryou's arm and whispered softly into his ear. The shorter man blushed intensely before he gave a small nod and a surprising kiss to Akefia's cheek before he ran off down the street, leaving behind a stunned and giddy man. As Akefia quietly slinked into his house, he smiled to himself, and entered his sister's bed room. As he approached her, he noticed that she was practicing her drawing at her desk. As he wrapped his arms around her, she jumped a little before relaxing into his grip.

"Hi Akefia, did you have fun today? Meet anyone special?" Amane questioned and she looked over her shoulder at her brother.

"Yeah, I did meet someone Amane-chan. Someone I think you would like to meet very much." Akefia sighed with a smile on his face.

"Is this a someone you buddy like Akefia, or like like as my friends Tea and Mai do?"

Akefia snickered at his sisters descriptions of friends and lovers. "Like Like Amane-chan. And you know what, I asked him out before I came home. You want to know his reaction?" Amane nods quickly at her brother, prompting him to continue. "He blushed, said yes, kissed me on the cheek before running away with a smile on his face."

The white haired girl smiled at her brother and gave him a big hug. "Awww that is so cute! I am so happy for you Akefia. I want to meet him as soon as possible."

Akefia smiled at his sister, returning the hug with a tight one of his own. "Thank you so much Amane-chan. You have no idea how much I love you right not. Because you helped me find a tattooed angel."

 **So what do you think? Do you want to read more one shots?**

 **I did my best to write in gemshipping (SO CUTE)**

 **Please favorite if you enjoyed and if you had seen any typos or want to makes comments, please send me a PM or leave a comment.**

 **THANKS FOR READING!**


	2. Chapter 2

***cries* SO...fucking...long...too fucking long. How I did this is a mystery to me.**

 **Anyway, I would not only like to dedicate this story to 'the 3-languages-girl' and 'Paisleylace' for encouraging me to write another chapter! Also I would like to apologize to Paisleylace for...*cough* promising this update/link to my story a month ago around thanksgiving.**

 **Anyway ON WITH THE STORY!**

 **WARNING, PLEASE READ: This story has mentions of parental abuse that i physical and sexual. I apologize if it is uncomfortable for you to read. I will make sure to go easier if I write something similar the next time I write something like this...T^T**

 **THIS STORY HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED... At least a little bit...the beginning still has mistakes but for the second half it should be good.**

 **Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH! THOUGH THIS LONG ASS STORY BEGS TO DIFFER ABOUT THE PLOT OWNER SHIP! I WILL FIGHT YOU FOR OWNERSHIP! X3**

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"Akefia! Akefia get your but back here and give me a straight answer for once!" A feminine voice sounded throughout the peaceful neighborhood at the early hour of eight in the morning. Seen through the front windows of a two-story, light blue house was a young, thirteen year old girl with her snowy white hair pulled back into a high pony tail. Her nearly lavender eyed showed frustration as her pale lips, glossed in pink lip gloss, were drawn into a small pout. Through the window over the front door, you could see her scurrying up the stairs as fast as she could in her knee length black skirt and leggings. She raced to a tall white door just as a click was heard. She sighed and pounded on the door with her small fists that were attached to arms covered in a navy and white thinly stripped long sleeved shirt that was layered with a jean jacket over top of it. Around her wrist which joined the two appendages together were two, simple, thin, black bracelets. "Akefia Francis Tozukou, open this door right now!"

A deep voice could be heard laughing on the other side of the door. "How about no, Amane. It is my personal life, not yours you brat!" The owner of the voice, Akefia could be seen through the second story window reclining on his bed, slipping a black and red headset over his gray shaggy hair. Despite the his harsh appearance, the scar on the right side of his face not helping his appearance, the man could act like a big child. Adorning the man's chest was a white undershirt with open black button down shirt over top of it. His legs were wrapped in simple jeans with a series of small rips placed over one knee cap and some minor ones scattered around the pant legs with a blue sock on his right foot and a yellow on his left.

The girl, Amane, pouted before running to her room, an idea sparking in her mind. Searching through her closet, she came upon one of the plastic spears one would see a Lego man carry in commercials or sets featuring the middle ages or themes of the sort. She grinned as the turned the spear over so that the blunt, rounded end was facing out rather than the tip and she ran back to her brother's door. The locks in their house were simple locks by pushing the handle towards the door and then turning the knob. Amane remembered time and time again when her brother would walk into her room in the past when she was positive that she locked the door. She later found out after she 'conveniently' locked herself out of her room that the only way to unlock it is to stick something small into the hold on the other knob opposite the one that locks the door. After that all you needed to do was turn the knob after applying enough pressure with the small object to release the lock. Coming back from the memory, she stuck the blunt object into the small hole, her face took on an expression of satisfaction as she was able to turn the knob with ease.

She pushed open the door ever so slightly, peering his to see her brother laying on his bed, listening to music yet again. She rolled her eyes and scanned the room for the device she was looking for, finding it lying next to him on the bed. Amane took a deep breath before she slowly began to count down from three. Once she reached zero, she flung open the door as fast as she could and darted into the room, grabbing her brother's phone before darting out as quickly as she made her appearance. Akefia, having been startled from the first point of entry, just stared at his sister's retreating back before he finally realized what happened. He jumped to his feet and chased after the giggling girl, regretting telling her his password. "Amane, you get back here with my phone this instant!"

The two chased each other around for a few more moments before they found each other separated by a coffee table in their front room. Amane threw her brother a taunting glaze before holding out his phone her pale digits, showing him that she had opened his contacts list. The contact selected was called 'Tattoo Angel' with a skull and flower on the right side, a pen and a scroll on the left. A pale thumb was hovering over the phone button, threatening to press it at any moment. "What are you going to do about it old man! Shake your cane at me as you sit in you wheelchair?" Amane's mischievous grin grew as she saw her brother being to fume. Akefia growled before lunging for his sister. She tried to turn and run, but failed as two arms wrapped around her waist and she was hoisted high into the air, over the tan man's shoulder. The girl, squealed before wrapping her arms over top of the tan appendages. "OK! OK I AM SORRY, PLEASE PUT ME DOWN GENTLY I AM SORRY! I JUST WANTED TO MEET HIM I SWEAR!"

Akefia chuckled as he walked into the family room with his sister squealing to be put down over his shoulder. Gently, he set the thirteen year old girl into his lap after he sat down onto the couch himself. The two sat in silence before they heard a tired fill their vicinity of the room. "Hello? Who is face timing me?" Both of the siblings jumped before Amane brought the phone's screen up to point at them. On the screen appeared to be a disheveled man with messy white hair that lays on both black and green pillow covers. A pale hand pushed thin black glasses out of the way as he rubbed hazy, emerald eyes still under the influence of sleep. "Akefia, why are you calling me at eig- and who is this?" The other's Emerald eyes widened as he say a young girl's face next to Akefia's on the screen before a bored look was cast to Akefia. "Are you cheating on me Akefia, with a minor no less?"

Amane's pale face turn bright red in embarrassment after he said this as Akefia's eyes widened before he quickly shook his head in negation. "HELL NO! Ryou this is my sister, Amane. Amane, this is the guy I have been dating for the past month, Ryou." The stone eyed man quickly introduced the two before anything else can be implied and end in fire.

Ryou could bee see staring at the screen, as if contemplating his next sentence. "So, you are into incest then. Not that I judge or anything but I would have hoped that it would be out of the family or at least a second of third cousin once or twice removed." The white haired man spoke to the screen with the most stone cold face either of the two has seen that they were having trouble not believing him. But within a minute of silence, Ryou broke his mask as he burst out laughing to the point he nearly dropped his phone. "Oh man you should have seen your faces! No, I understand Akefia. It is just payback work waking me up. So this is the white lily you have told me about?"

Amane gave a confused look as the statement was directed towards herself then asked in an inquisitive voice. "White lily?"

Ryou gave her a confused look of his own before responding. "Yeah, white lily. You do know that the flower in your brother's tattoo is you right?" A gave a small lopsided grin as the look of confusion instantly cleared.

"Oh my gosh, I feel like an idiot now!" The girl slammed the palm of her hand into her forehead, leaving a bright red circle afterward.

Akefia just chuckled as the two conversed for the first time, glad that they are getting along. He reached for the phone, trying to let Ryou get a few more minutes of sleep. Akefia found out one day as the two were sitting in the park that Ryou can easily fall asleep anywhere as long as he is undisturbed for if the noise in the background acts as a white noise. Amane saw the tan hand begin to move out of her peripheral and held the phone out of her brother's reach. "Hey Ryou can I ask you a question before my brother steals his phone back?"

The other's expression turned into one of surprise as he blinked his emerald eyed into the camera before adjusting his glasses. "Uh, sure. Go for it white lily, but wouldn't that be him getting his phone back, rather than stealing it?"

Amane pouted before screaming at the phone. "NO!" in the background, Akefia's face could be seen turning into one of frustration as he continued to fail at retrieving his mobile device. Just as Amane shouted 'no' he could simultaneously be heard screaming 'yes'. Amane put the palm of her hand to Akefia's forehead as she tried to keep him as far away from the phone as possible. "When do we finally get to meet you in person? Not that I mind seeing you face, but it is not the same of a meeting person to person."

Ryou's expression turned into one of surprise yet again as he stared at the camera. "Well I don't see why not sooner. It's up to your brother really since he knows you scheduled while I am oblivious." Ryou's free hand could be seen moving off the screen to the right of him moving in an up and down motion, as if to be petting something. "I can take off any time this week and give Marik a day off to spend time with Malik too."

Amane eyes sparkled and turned her gaze to her brother, silently asking for him to agree to the plans. Akefia rolled his eyes before staring right back at her, but with a more of a bored look. Amane pouted ever so slightly and straddled her brother's legs. "Staring contest to decide?" Akefia, one always being up for a challenge, grinned and nodded his head. Amane, got off her brother and set his phone on the coffee table and sat on the ground so that only her eyes and nose were visible on Ryou's end of the feed, with Akefia on the opposite side. "Ryou call it!" Both of the white haired siblings closed their eyes. The tattoo artist groaned as he looked at the screen with bored eyes. A soft mutter could be heard from the mobile device questioning why there was a need for a referee, but was silenced with both siblings should shouted at him, "JUST START THE COUNT DOWN!"

Ryou groaned and could be seen dragging his free hand over his face. "Fine, whatever, but I need to hand up after this. You two are eating up my data." Ryou looked down at his watch and began he count down. When Ryou his 1 he looked up and stated in a rather blunt voice, "Go."

Akefia and Amane immediately opened their eyes and began their intense battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days passed before since the morning of the call, and the world soon found two siblings walking up the side walk to a local cafe. The smaller of the two had her white fluffy hair pulled up into a tight bun commonly used to depict a ballet dancer. Edged around her pale lavender eyes was a light pink eye shadow and black eye liner that made the color in her eyes come out even more. Encircled around her small chest was a long sleeved white button up with a beige shrug layered over top. Wrapped around her legs were light blue skinny jeans complimented well with brown ankle boots. The young teen looked at her brother's facial expression, causing her own expression to draw into a pout. "Come on Akefia, don't sulk. Aren't you excited to see you boyfriend, or are you still sulking that I actually beat you at something, dressed you up all nice _and_ I finally get to meet Ryou face to face?"

Said man looked at his baby sister through passive grey eyes, trying to make his face indifferent. The tall, white haired man stood about his sister in a navy V-neck shirt. Over top of the shirt was an open black vest that cut down just above the nipple. Wrapped around the man's legs were dark grey jeans ending just above the man's black converse. Around the man's right wrist was a watch while on the opposite side were two thin black bands. "No, just the fact you actually beat me at a staring contest, but I also let you dress me up in this." The man tugged at the clothing uncomfortably, only to have his tan hands be slapped away painfully by his sister.

"No touching my masterpiece! Do you know how long it too for me to find and clean that in you tawdry state of your smelly closet? A little over forty minutes!" The white haired teen pouted as the approached a hole in the wall cafe. Scrawled across their sign in a flowing cursive script was 'High End Brewing?' At the end of the sign was a cartoon like image of a coffee cup filled with either tea or coffee, three swirls of steam were rising from the 'hot liquid.' The outside of the building was compiled of weathered red bricks and three wire chaired and tables. But as the two siblings stepped inside, they were met with the scents of coffee, tea, and sweets captivating their minds. Around the establishment were either small padded brown and red booths, green, red and brown couches surrounded by a warm fire, or wooden tables made of oak that were coupled nicely with plush red arm chairs sitting opposite each other. The walled were a light brown color with pieces of art work scattered around the building. Along the edged where the walls not only intersect with each other, but the ceiling were dark brown pieces of oak. Laid on top of the floor was a mixture of green carpet where the sitting areas were located and beige tiles that surrounded the counter used for the servers to turn in tickets and take orders to customers.

As the two looked around for a table to sit at, a tall white haired man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties approached the duo. His long white hair was tied near the top of his head and fell to just under his shoulders, through pieced of hair surrounded his closed eyes, refusing to be pulled back in uniform with the other locks. Upon the man's chest and abdomen was a pressed white dress shirt with a buttoned black vest over top of that. The man's white shirt was buttoned up neatly, with the exception of the first three buttons being left undone, exposing the man's collar bone and just the beginning of his pectoral muscles. His pale legs were encased pressed, black dress pants that ended just above his black dress shoes. When the two siblings finally noticed him, the man bowed to the two in respect. "Greetings and Welcome to 'High End Brewing' Sir and Ma'am. My name is Bakura and I will be serving you today." The man stood back up with a polite smile, opening his eyes to reveal mahogany eyes that contained a tint of red. "Will it be just the two of you this day, or will another be joining you perhaps?"

Amane, being shy around men (1) tilted her hear towards the ground, her hands shaking in nervousness. Akefia patted his sister on the back in comfort before looking back at the man before him. "We will be having another joining us yes."

The Man nodded at the two in understanding. "That is quite alright sir. Just one moment please." Bakura turned and grabbed three laminated menus before turning back to the siblings. "Now if you will just follow me it is-" As the man began to walk off, the door opened yet again, revealing a young man with flowing white hair.

"I am so sorry I was late. I had to finish up something at the shops." The man's pale feet were encased in black ankle boots that met just above his black jeans that hugged his waist well, while they were looser around his ankles. Through the loops of his pants was a clean white belt that hand two chains hanging off the side of his right hip. His upper half was adorned in a white sleeveless turtle neck with a black leather jacket over top of that. Around the man's neck was a thin chain in which a silver locket was hanging from. The Man's hair, too, was tied up near the top of his head, revealing that both ears contained a galore of piercings, alternating between dangling, to hoop, to connected earring, to normal stud earrings. The three could see the man's piercing emerald eyes, edged in black liquid eyeliner, stare at this in confusion. "What?"

Their waiter, Bakura, decided to drop the formalities required for the establishment and smirked widely at the newly arrived man. "What that translates to is that you could not decide to either go casual or formal with your clothing choice, am I wrong?"

The man in question pouted as he crossed his arms over the top of his chest. "Shut up! I just so happened to be closing up me shop before coming here, thank you very much!" The two siblings, as the two familiar albinos conversed just stared at the two in confusion of their knowledge of each other.

Bakura's face turned into one of confusion as he gazed at his friend. "Wait, I thought the shop was closed today?"

Ryou chuckled nervously, his hand scratching the back of his head gently. As he opened his mouth to answer the waiter's question, Akefia choose this moment to interrupt. "Um, hate to intervene on your little reunion. But how do you two know each other and why were you at the shop today Ryou? You said you closed it so we could meet today?" Akefia pinned his boyfriend with a curious stare. Though it is no lie that anyone could see the jealousy flash through his stone irises.

Bakura sent the man a glare before turning back to Ryou, his gaze turning gentler towards the man. "Are you the third person of this _polite_ man's party, Ryou?" Bakura could not hold back the growl escaping his lips as he talked about Akefia. Though he trusted his friend, but Bakura himself did not necessarily place all his trust in the tan man that accompanied him.

Ryou looked worriedly between the two men in front of him feeling more uncomfortable by the minute as they both gaze. Ryou decided to just nod at his friend, casting his eyes to the ground. Bakura cast a glare at the tanned man before allowing his face return to a polite and passive expression. Bakura had noticed the disapproving gaze of his manager from afar, and decided to return to his act as a polite and courteous waiter. "Well if you would follow me, I shall lead you to your table." Once all three of the customers turned to Bakura, he too turned and led the three to their table.

Just as they arrived at their table, the front door opened yet again that revealed an auburn hair girl. Throughout the girl's main were highlights of pink scattered under the top locks of hair. Amane's heart jumped at the sight of the girl, one whom she recognizes from her school. Around the girl's busty chest was a pink cream long sleeved shirt with a brown shrug layered over top of that. Starting at the girl's waist was a white skirt and ended just above the knees with nude panty hose underneath that. The girl's feet were then seen tucked into tan ankle boots, with a black satchel completing the look. The pale face of the white haired teen turned pink as the girl before her noticed her and waived, a gentle smile claiming her lips. Amane grabbed Ryou's hand and gave it a gentle tug, though she did not see the way her stiffened at her contact. "Hey Ryou, I will be right back, ok?" The man in question swallowed the air in his throat before giving her a small nod in confirmation.

With that, Amane took off to talk to the girl, leaving Ryou and Akefia to take their seats. Akefia smiled at Ryou gently, laying his hand on top of his respective partner's smaller one. Just as his sister failed to notice Ryou's reactions to contact, so did he as the hand in Ryou's lap flinched slightly his eyes dilated and his stature poised. "Thanks for coming out today Ryou. But what was that thing you had to take care of at the shops."

Ryou quickly withdrew his hand from Akefia's touch, easily covering it with the gesture of bashfully scratching the back of his neck. The man chuckled nervously as he gazed at the menu f before him, refusing to make eye contact as he gave his answer. "Oh well, you see I had Marik do a new tattoo for me today on my chest and it took a little longer than I thought it would. But I trust the man and he pulled through, refusing to rush and ruin his work."

Bakura pouted in frustration, wanting Ryou to look as him like he usually does when they talk. He enjoyed to see the many emotions pass through the emerald eyes as they get into heated or controversial conversations. Though hoping he would look up soon, Akefia kept the conversation going with a statement of his own. "If I may ask, what was that tattoo of?"

Ryou felt the man's gaze on him and he smiled, finally returning his gaze to the tan man before him, his eyes having returned to normal. "It was a tattoo for my mother I got over my heart. It is a water color tattoo with the image of a humming bird. The colors of the watercolor mainly are hues of reds and pinks with a few dashes of light blue, green, yellow, and just a hint of dark grey that could be black. For the image of the humming bird, instead of the lines being solid black, they were actually the lyrics to the song, 'you are my sunshine,' but only the first verse since that is all she ever sung to me as a child. The next verse was a little too depressing in our opinion. I would go into further details, but that would result digging deeper into my past that I currently feel comfortable. My apologies." (2) Ryou bowed his head as he apologize for being light handed in his explanation to Akefia.

Akefia just let out a soft sigh as he gazed at his partner. He was able to rest his hand on Ryou's shoulder, before their waiter appeared yet again, standing in between Ryou and Akefia. "Have you come to a decision yet sirs? And the Ma'am that was to be sitting with you has seated herself with Ms. Kawai, requesting just a few more moments with her acquaintance." Bakura gazed at the two men with a polite smile, but as Bakura turned his face away from Ryou's line of sight, his smile turned into a sly smirk as he saw the small glare Akefia was giving him.

Ryou smiled at Bakura, nodding in confirmation when he could see his friend's eyes once again. "Yes please, I would like to have your black tea with cream a sugar with a scone and a cream puff please." Bakura nodded curtly and turned back to the Egyptian with a bored look.

"I would like to have a black coffee with a blueberry muffin." Bakura nodded and begrudgingly left the couple to fix their drinks.

Akefia stared at Bakura's retreating back with a greater glare now that the other could no longer see it. "What is with that friend of your, Ryou?"

Ryou just gave the man a sad smile as he turned his gaze to look at the fire near them. "He is not all that bad Akefia. We go back to elementary school together, and he has always been there for me. I guess he is just a little protective over me from time to time since our time there." Akefia just pouted at the statement, wondering how he could even come close to competing with the relationship they both have. As time passed, Akefia saw Bakura begin to place their order on his tray and make his way through the line of tables. A rash idea popped into his mind, one devious enough that may give Bakura the hint that they want to be left in the comfort of each other for a while. Akefia tapped Ryou softly on the shoulder to get his attention. Once their eyes connected with each other, Akefia gently grasped the edge of Ryou's chin and dipped his head down, giving the boy a firm chaste kiss. As this action took place, Akefia's eyes darted in the direction of Bakura, locking eyes with him instead of seeing Ryou's eyes dilate once more.

The expression of Bakura's face however remained neutral as he quickened his pace towards the two. After he rested his tray on an adjacent table that was left vacant, he grabbed Akefia gently by the shoulders and pulled him off of the boy. "I am sorry sir, but we do not allow PDA here unless it is Valentine's Day or a party of some sorts. If you _wish_ to continue, the _please_ take it outside." As Bakura spoke to Akefia, he let out a few growls of warning, as if daring him to continue his actions.

Ryou raised a hand to his lips as he rose from the table, his body could be seen shaking profoundly. "Please excuse me, I need to head to the loo if you both don't mind." Without waiting for an answer, Ryou bolted from the two and into the men's restroom. He locked himself inside one of the blue stalls and rested his back against the plastic divider.

Back within the restaurant, the other customers were currently staring at the two remaining white haired men staring at heat other, both with a heated glare of their own ferocity. Amane stared at her brother in fear yet concern for the outcome of the events that are about to take place. She apologized to the girl she was talking with as she excused herself from her presence. Amane carefully made her way to her brother, hoping to reach him before a fight broke out. But such luck never happened as a low growl was heard from her brother. "I am sorry sir, but I don't believe that is the proper tone to be used with a customer."

Bakura chuckled darkly as he stared fiercely into stone cold irises. "Oh ho, I only use that tone for people who make my friend uncomfortable and force him into doing things he is not ready for. And I don't really like the tone you are giving me yourself sir. If you continue, I will have to ask you to leave or I would have to get my manager."

Akefia stared at the man in confusion, having previously thought that he would either hit him or at least raise his voice. Never the less, it only served to fuel Akefia's anger as he talked so casually. "I believe that you were in the wrong first when you began to talk the way you have been since Ryou entered this establishment."

Bakura just smiled maliciously at the man, wanting so badly to scream in rage to him, but by doing so, he would risk being sent home early or worse, losing his job. "I would rather leave other customers out of this debacle since you don't know of matters which you assume he is ready for."

The stone eyes man gave the waiter a disbelieving look at the evidence he just provided. "Why does it even matter to you what he can and can't do? You are not his guardian, nor can you decide what he is and is not ready for."

As Bakura was able to let out a rather snide remark of his own, a stuttering voice broke through their argument. "Bakura James Kita and Tozukou Akefia!" Both men froze in fear as they turned to a furious Ryou, having quickly returned from his trip to the bathroom. "Stop acting like small children who both want the new toy. You are grown men for crying out loud, act like it. Once you have learned, come find me and apologize for ruining was supposed to be a pleasant lunch. And apologize to the manager to, she should not have to deal you both of your fighting egos in their establishment." With that Ryou turned on heel and left the cafe, closing the door gently on his way out. Amane just sent both her brother and Bakura a disappointed glare before running out onto the streets after Ryou.

After a few moments, Amane found the white haired man sitting on a park bench with his legs being hugged to his chest with one arm, while the hand of the other tangles into his white bangs. His entire body was shaking in unison, through Amane assumed that the temperature outside had nothing to do with it. Amane takes a seat to the white haired man right and rests a delicate hand on his covered shoulder, only to quickly remove it as she say him give a violent flinch, his emerald eyes locking with her lavender orbs in fear. Once Ryou recognized that the being sitting next to him was Amane, he willed his body to calm down as fast as he could, taking rhythmic deep breaths to control his breathing as she slowly inched out of his ball into a proper sitting position. Once he trusted his mouth to talk again, he gave Amane a sad apologetic smile. "I am sorry you had to see that White Lily, what happened in the restaurant and just now."

Amane blinked in surprise that he was apologizing for not only her brother actions, but hers as well. "You don't have to apologize to me for something you could not control Ryou. But if I may ask, what happened just now. I am not saying that I deserve an explanation, but one would be nice of you to offer."

Ryou gave Amane a disbelieving look as he turned his head to look at the people walking through the park this day. He propped his left leg back onto the bench and the proceeded to interlace his two pale hands around the appendage as he rested his head on top of the kneecap. Ryou closed his eyes and took a deep breath, only releasing it when he turned his head to gaze at the girl before him. "White Lily, I don't think you would want to sit here all day listening to my life story. Besides, I don't think you would even come close to believing it after so much has happened. Besides, I think you brother is worried about where you run off to. It is not safe to hang out with people you barely know." Ryou stood up from his spot on the bench and made his to the gates of the park. Amane felt her heart go out in empathy rather than sympathy to the man before her. After pondering a thought, Amane quickly pulled out her phone and texted Akefia her location and asks if she could accompany Ryou to his house if he said yes.

Amane got up and began to follow the pale man as he made his way through less dense portions of the accumulated crowd. She felt her phone vibrate once again in her hand. As she looked down, she smiled when her brother wrote back that he trusts them, he lives next to Bakura, and to tell him that they were both sorry. Amane sends him a message of confirmation before dashing as fast as he could to the white haired figure that was nearly at the gates of the park by now. Realizing that at the paces each were going, she would not make it before he left the park. "RYOU! STOP!" Amane shouted through cupped hands, in desperation to get the tattoo artist's attention. To her pleasure, she saw the man stop and turn in her direction, searching through the crowd for the one who called his name.

Amane soon caught up to him out of breath. She raised both hands to rest on the top of her head in order to open up the air way to her lungs faster. "I asked Akefia...if I could accompany you...to your house...to make...sure you were...alright." Once Amane got her breath back, she let her arms fall back into place at her sides. "I do believe that today, I came out into the real world to get to know you more over a cuppa tea." Amane let out a conniving smirk her brother would either be proud of or fearful himself. "My belly is cold and tea-less and my brain lacks more knowledge of who you are, care for another try?"

Ryou stared at the girl before him, his gaze soft yet calculating. This girl before had a good head on her shoulders and knew how to either talk her way in or out of situations with ease. Ryou gave a soft sigh before turning towards the gate once more without a word. As he almost passed through, he noticed that his partner's younger sibling was still standing in their previous location. As a chuckled escaped his lips, he called over his shoulder as he finally exited the park. "Come on, White Lily! There is tea to be made and a story to be told!

Amane blinked in confusion for a moment before a large grin spread across her face, she willed her legs to move at a fast pace after Ryou. When she finally caught up to the tattoo artist, who was currently pulled out his keys from his pocket, she smiled at him, which was returned with a smile of his own. "So where is your car, Ryou?"

Ryou gave her a look of confusion, before realization flooded his mind. A chuckled escaped his lips and placed a hand on the back of his neck. "A car, White Lily? No, I drive the beauty right over there." Amane followed the man's line of eye sight that ended on a Black and midnight blue Kawasaki ninja. Amane swallowed the lump in her throat as the two made their way to the bike. Though she looked at the bike with curiosity, it did not take away from the fact that she was scared of the foreign object. Ryou noticed her fear and just smiled down gently at her. "It is perfectly safe, you know? It doesn't bit and it won't charge at you like a bull." Amane gave a meek nod, and ran her fingers over the powerful bike's handle bars. When the sound of a lid being opened caught her ears, she snapped her head in the direction of Ryou, to see that he did in face open the compartment under the seat.

Amane blinks in confusion as Ryou sheds his black leather jacket and extends it out to her, his other hand going back to searching through the compartment. "Take it and put it on. With what you are wearing, you are bound to be shivering the whole ride." The girl just nodded in surprise, slipping on the warm jacket. Her mind went elsewhere when she saw the tattoo sleeve one his right arm. _'What could have driven him to create a tattoo like that? There is no way that is just a stencil or a pre-made template."_ Amane was once again shaken from her thoughts as five pieces of padding here handed to her, a helmet that covered her whole head, two for her elbows and two for her knees. "Put these on just to be safe ok?" The tone Ryou used was one that this would be the final decision. Amane nodded silently and placed on each padding, taking the time to adjust each strap so that is was hugging each appendage snuggly. When she was finished, she turned back to Ryou and saw that he was now wearing a black trench coat with proper padding on his arms legs and head as well. He placed the seat back to its original position before throwing a leg over the side of the bike, straddling it. Amane followed his actions, and straddled the bike as well.

The girl squeaked as Ryou grabbed her wrists gently and wrapped them around his stomach. She could feel the man shaking against her as she tightened her grip, understanding his silent message to keep a tight hold on him. Once the two were finally situated, Ryou put his keys into the ignition and started the bike, carefully pulling out into the ongoing traffic. Though out the trip, Amane kept a good hold on Ryou, though she noticed that as time passed, she became more and more relaxed. But it all came to an end when they pulled up in front of an old, worn down building Amane assumed to contain Ryou's home. As Ryou parked his bike, Amane quickly let go of Ryou and got off the bike, a smile plastered on her face. 'That was so much fun!" The girl tore the helmet of her head so Ryou could see how big a smile she produced.

Ryou just merely chuckled as he too took off his helmet. "I was hoping you would warm up to it." Ryou swung his left leg over the seat and stood up on shaky legs as he proceeded to open the compartment once again and place all the padding back inside. Once everything is locked securely, Ryou leads Amane towards the entrance of the building. "This place may look a little rough around the edges, but it is honestly a lot better on the inside. It used to be an old hotel you know? The rooms were renovated to have more space, but there are still connecting doors to other apartments and key card locks." Ryou spoke with cheer in his voice as the two made their way to the stairs. When Amane gave him a look of confusion, he just smirked as he continued to walk. "The elevator is not that good, and I live just one floor up."

For the rest of their journey, they two walked in silence until it was broken when they arrived at room 108. Just as Ryou slid his key card out of the lock and opened the door, he was tackled to the ground in a mess of white and brown fur. Amane jumped back in shock as the thing pinned Ryou to the ground and began to attack him. The words nearly formed in her mouth but never had the chance to escape as the sound of laughter met her ears. With a closer look, Amane noticed that Ryou's attacker was licking his face with a large pink tongue, its large black nose sniffing his face and neck. Amane soon came to the conclusion that this large animal on Ryou was a dog, but the breed's name was alluding her.

After a few moments, Ryou pushed the dog off his person, his upper half of his body rising as well. "Zora, calm down will you!" Ryou let out softer chuckled as he rubbed the dog's head affectionately. Ryou then proceeded to turn to Amane, a bright smile on his face. "Amane, this is Zora, a St. Bernard who happens to be one of my best friends."

Amane smiled as she reached a hand out to rub the dog's head as well, only to have a pink tongue furiously lick the hands. "He is very sweet dog." Amane commented as Zora's tongue returned to the moist cavern of its mouth to sniff her hand for new scents.

Ryou gave the girl before him a confused look. "Um, _she_ seems to find you sweet as well." Ryou could not help but let out a soft chuckle as Amane face turned from pale to bright red in embarrassment. The girl immediately apologized for her mistake, but Ryou just waved her off as he got to his feet and entered his dwelling with Zora following close behind him. Amane, too, got to her feet and observed the rooms in front of her. To her right, Amane could see two doorways in the main sitting that to what she assumed led to the bed room and bath room that were still within the original concept of the hotel room. To the girl's left she saw Ryou open a wooden divider that folded in on itself together to reveal a small alcove for shoes and coats. Ryou then proceeded to remove his own trench coat and easily tucked the inside of the sleeved onto a coat hanger before placing it on the long aluminum beam. Amane followed his actions and removed her coat as well, but when she reached for a hanger of her own, the coat was remove from her grasp by Ryou, as he then hung up the jacket in the same process.

When Amane traveled further into the apartment, a larger room fell open before her that seemed to be split into two sections. On the main dark brown, hard wood floor before her was the sitting and entertainment room that took up two thirds of the floor space. The back of a red plush couch faced her with a glass coffee table framed in think black wiring laid right in front of it. On either side of the coffee table were two, plush, brown, leather chairs with a black wooden end table, complimented with a solid, navy blue lamp, on one side of each chair. Atop of the white mantle before the sitting arrangements was a black Television that rested on top of a dark brown chest of drawers. Towards the left of the sitting arrangements, lined against the turquoise wall were book cases that contained a variety of books and nick knacks. As Amane took a closer look, she there was a gap in between two book cases as well as an equal space in between the same book case and a door that Amane assumed to be the one that connected Ryou's apartment to the other owner's. The white haired teen jumped when she saw Ryou stand in between the two book cases and proceed to push the book case in front of the connecting door.

The girl followed Ryou with her lavender eyed to the smaller kitchen unit. The floor easily transitioned into beige square tiled as the walls turned from turquoise to brownish tan color. Lined across the top and bottom walls were large, white cabinets. The black stone grey counter top of the bottom cabinets were separated into three pieces, the dividers being the dishwasher, the water basin, and the stove. Laying in between the cabinets and the wall lays a stainless steel refrigerator with a microwave mounted two cabinets over against the wall. Lining against the wall on the counter top were rows of different spiced, jars, and a wicker basket of fruits.

Amane was snapped out of her trance when she heard the metal kettle on the stove begin to shriek. Ryou muttered under his breath for the kettle to 'hush up' as he removed the whistle from the spout and poured the liquid into a red tea pot. Amane decided to wait in the sitting room for Ryou to finish making the tea and fixings.

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As Ryou and Amane were making their way to Ryou's apartment, Akefia could be seen clicking a button softly on the side of his phone, the glowing screen of the mobile device dimming till it powered down completely. He turned to the shorter man next, a soft frown took control of his lips as his eyes turned to one of a guilty man's. "We really fucked up, didn't we?"

In response to Akefia's statement, Bakura merely rolled his eyes before giving a nod of confirmation. As he addressed Akefia once again, he turned back to his tray and set each steaming drink and pastry in front of Akefia and the seat that Ryou once sat in. "Very smart genius. Though if you were not so jealousy prone, none of this would have happened. Now if you would excuse me, I need to go explain to my manager what happened, apologize to other customers, and finish my shift which ends in about an hour and a half. If you want to talk more, just wait here and finish your drinks or pay and leave." As Bakura finished his blunt series of statements, he turned from the taller gentleman and proceeded to walk over to a large wooden door near the worker's station. Akefia merely grunted before taking his seat at the table once again and proceeded to sip his coffee and consume his muffin.

As time went on, Akefia found himself walking down the street with Bakura at his side. The taller of the two men let out an awkward cough as he finally decided to break the silence. "So, Bakura is it? How do you know Ryou?"

"You know, you deliver ice breaking questions poorly." Bakura bluntly stated, his eyes half lidded and dull. "But I supposed I should answer your question. Ryou Bakura is my neighbor and best friend since grade school when I first moved to Japan. Though I suspect he already told you this when you grew curious about my brash actions in your fit of jealousy."

Akefia gave the man a slight glare for his off handed remake. "Good to know, but you don't need to be so rude about it."

Bakura just grinned to himself in amusement. "I get that a lot, yes. I just prefer annoying people to no end to get their reactions if I don't know them personally. I mean when am I going to be seeing them again, anyway? Well, besides you, I think you are an acceptation to the matter since you are currently in a relationship with him." As Bakura spoke his last sentence, he could not keep his voice in check as it let out a growl, his words dripping with venom.

Akefia was taken aback by the tone dulled out to him, before a worrying question popped into his mind. "Wait a minute, do you like Ryou?"

Bakura stopped dead in his tracks next to Akefia, who too stopped four feet away after he realized the other party was no longer following him. The white haired waiter stared at the tan man before him, his face serious yet calm. "For your information, I am no home-wrecker."

Akefia just stared at the man, confusion clouding his thoughts. "So you do have a crush on Ryou."

Mahogany orbs rolled around in their place on Bakura face before the landed back on Akefia. "Yes, we just established that. Now can we continue walking to your car, I would like to get home and apologize to Ryou before he eats dinner without us." Bakura fell in step with the crowd around him, leaving Akefia to catch up to him.

Though most of the vital information was already answered, there was still one question bugging Akefia. "Wait Bakura! Slow the crap down already!" Akefia chased after the bull headed man, clamping his hand down onto the white sleeved shoulder to stop the man's motion. Only when their eyes connected was when Akefia used his voice once again. "If you liked Ryou, why have _you_ not asked him out yourself?"

Bakura stared at Akefia for a few seconds, before sharply turning his head away. "I have known Ryou for so long, helped him through so much shit, that he may or may not only see me as a friend. I don't know what goes on in that head of his, and it is because I don't know that makes me fear that if I try to make things more of a relationship like status with him he will either see me making a joke, say yes and be happy, or things between us just become awkward and we don't really talk anymore. I just don't want to screw things up between us." As Bakura spoke his lament, his left hand came to the top of his head and tangled the digits into his white locks. Akefia could see the frustration, the jealousy, the longing, and the sadness in Bakura's eyes.

Akefia just nodded and led Bakura the rest of the way to his car. "May I ask you one more question on the matter before I let it drop for the moment?" Bakura looked back at Akefia with his normal passive face, he tilted his head up and down in confirmation, telling Akefia to continue. "What happened in Ryou's past that caused him to be this way? Or at least a brief summary would be nice." The two approached a gun metal blue car that was parked on the side of the road. When both men entered the vehicle, Bakura opened him mouth to tell a part of Ryou's story.

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

The two albinos found themselves sitting on opposite sides of the red couch, quietly sipping on their tea. Amane takes one of the gingersnap cookies from the wooden tray before her, trying to find ways to fill the silence that filled the apartment.

Amane heard Ryou take a deep breath, before setting his tea cup back on his saucer and onto the wooden tray. As Straightened back up, he turned the upper portion of his body so that he could look at the small teen. "I assume you would like for me to get started yes?

Amane finished off her cup of tea with one large gulf before she too set it down onto the wooden tray. "Yes please. Could you start with why you flinch every time people touch you?"

Ryou gave her a nod in confirmation just as Zora came over and jumped onto the couch in between them, resting her large head in Ryou lap. "Now where to begin, where to begin?" Ryou spoke to himself as he leaned back against the couch, gently stroking Zora's head. "I guess I should start with my child hood, as far back as it seems. If at any point you want me to stop, you tell me OK?" Ryou gave Amane a pointed look, to which she gave a soft nod to. "Alright, well I grew up in the UK, in Oxford. I had a mother named Elizabeth who was a college drop out due to expenses being too high and a Father named Jiro who was a business man for a powerful company. They were married for two years before I came alone. Everything was great until my father was promoted in his job at the office. He was required to take business trips often and the pay was good. At the time, I would have been about seven years old. With him out of the house often, the faith in my parent's relationship started to thin little by little over the years. At first they tried to make it work by emailing and calling at least once a week. But whenever my mum called, my father was busy with his job while when he would call her, he would rant and rave about his experiences, not giving her a chance to speak before he have to get off the line. But as time passed; calls once a week became once a month; trips became longer and longer; holidays and birthdays missed more times that I can count. My mum fell into a depression and I would always be there for her, no matter if she was telling me to leave in a midst of tears, or when she told me she was alright. I would sleep with her in the same bed and cook dinner with here every night. Eventually, I encouraged my Mum to go to school again to become a chef since dad was making so much more money, and though it took convincing, she eventually did.

"I would have to say that the breaking point between them came two years later, when I was nine years old with my dad finally came home after about two months with no form of contact from either spouses. Now for the past year, whenever my parents were together, whether it was for a day, a week, or a month between trips, they would fight. My dad would accuse my mother of cheating on him because one time, a girl with a masculine sounding name had shared numbers together. She texted my mum one day about when they should get together outside of class for tea. It was an innocent message to anyone who knew the other person, but my dad was the one who saw the message first and jumped to conclusions. During their fights, my dad would try to drag me into the mess itself and make me pick sides while my mum would try to get me out of them. More times than I can count, my dad would get physical with my mum and either hit her or throw breakable things at her in frustration. I would hear the crash and would come into the room, and either witness my mum fall to the ground or I would walk on glass or shards of some sort. My mum would see me and take me out of the room with out a word to her husband, away from my Father to make sure I was OK. Witnessing the fighting when I was younger left some mental scars that time could never be fixed, but these were the least of my problems.

"As I stated before, the breaking point was when I was about nine years old when my parents finally decided to get a divorce. During the court case, there was a fight about who should look after me after they were separated by law. In the end, my dad won custody of me because he had a well paying job while my mother was technically still in school." Ryou let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Zora noticed her owner's distress and nuzzled her head further into Ryou's lap, in turn getting a chuckle out of the albino as he began to pet her head once again having stopped half way through his story. "God, sometimes I wish I never encouraged her to go back to school and instead get a job of her own, but she would not be where she is today is not."

Amane cocked her head to the side as she hugged a couch pillow to her body. Amane, noticing Ryou's pause, decided to speak up for the first time since he began telling his story. "Where is she now?"

Ryou casted his emerald gaze towards her with a small smile etched onto his lips. "But, if I told you that now White Lily, it would ruin the story that you wanted to hear. Do you care to hear more?" After receiving a quick nod, Ryou just cast her a sad smile before looking back down at Zora. "Alright. Well my Father won custody over me, no matter how hard my mum fought. He took me along on his trips around the world before his job finally settled us down in Domino, Japan, where he was born and raised. That was about a month after their divorce I believe where I had just turned ten. I was able to stay in contact with my mum by emailing her in secret any chance I would get, though I did not risk to call her. My Father did not approve of any contact with the woman. He saw me trying to call her one day, and oh my, did he rip that bloody flip phone out of my hand as fast as he could and smashed it against the wall, he was so angry. I believe that was the day he also started to beat me, though it was not as frequent until I turned eleven." Ryou shook his head, clearing his thoughts, realizing what he had done. "My bad, I started to get a head of myself. About a week after I arrived in Japan, I was enrolled in school and I hardly knew the basics of the language. That is where I met Bakura."

"That was the man working at the cafe correct?" Amane interrupted once again, though apologizing for it after the words came out of her mouth.

"Yes that was him, and no you are fine. Now, when I first came to school, I had to have another adult follow me around like a shadow because, as I stated before, I did not know how to speak Japanese. Well, I was bullied for it quite a lot verbally. I may not have been able to understand it, but by the way my translator grimaced and refused to tell me coupled with their tone and the giggles from the other students, I would say it was pretty offensive. Well another week passed and I was getting the hang of the basics of the language. Though with it came bruises and scars that hid under my clothes because the other boys decided that they would try to scare me out of the school with violence. They did this when ever I was heading home or away from my translator in the bathroom. I later found out their reasoning was that they did not want, and I quote, 'a demon in their school poisoning their air.' I am pretty sure it was because of my hair and skin were different from theirs.

"On the beginning of the third week, there was another transfer student from a neighboring school in the area. His name was Bakura. He was my age at the time and in my head I was completely astounded there was another me in the same room. But being the abused introvert as I was in my first year upper school days, I refused to make eye contact with him and just set to doing my work next to my translator. Well as the day went on, I was sitting alone in the class room, my shadow having wandered off to get his own lunch, when other students came into the room for my daily beating. Well, before they would lay a finger on me, Bakura came into the room and stopped them. He never told me, even to this day, why he did what he did. But it eventually lead to him teaching me the current language and us becoming great friends. Though he stayed quiet about it, he too was bullied by the other students. I came to the conclusion that they tried to emotionally weed him out since he was physically stronger and agile than most of the students. I would have to say that was one of the best years of my time at school since I left Oxford."

Amane's lips drew into a frown filled with worry. "I have a feeling this is where everything goes wrong, isn't it?" The grimace upon Ryou's face was as clear as someone shouting right in front of her face.

"Yeah, you are right." Ryou answered regardless. "My father had taken up drinking and would abuse me whenever he returned home on the weekends from the bar or even week days. He would hardly do that though, because what would his co-workers think is he showed up to work drunk off his ass, right?" Ryou gave a humorless chuckled before continuing his tale. "It was so bad some days that I would have to skip school, saying I am sick, so that no one would know what was going on. Hell I did not even tell my mother, she did not need that stress on her shoulders at the time since school and life in general became harder for her. But I have to sat those were the moments I hated lying to Bakura the most, because he would always see the bruises, whether it was when we were changing for gym and my under shirt rode a little too far up, or the way I would grimace in pain when another student 'accidentally' bumped into me. He would ask me about it, but I would just lie and say it was the bullies again. It was an easy cover up at the time, because they would get reprimanded for their actions, but it was not permanent because when they were suspended, how could I explain my bruises then.

"I began to get depressed during the passing year and would self-harm, but not the traditional way of cutting. I promised my mum that I would never, _ever_ cut. But I never said I would not burn myself. So, every night or so for the next month, I would be burning my legs in the bathtub where there were no smoke detectors, at least a little bit before bed. Eventually my father found out about my little 'habit' and threatened me, saying that if he ever caught me doing something like this ever again, he would beat me ten times worse than before and he would cut me on the legs rather than burn. I stopped after that, because of my mother's promise.

"It went on like this for a while, daily beatings and lying to the two people I cared the most about. But then Christmas came rolling around, and then everything got so much worse. I was eleven at the time and my father went to a company Christmas party and met another woman there, her name was Samantha I believe. She was a drug addict and offered him heroine, but he declined. She then tried again and offered him cocaine, but again he rejected it. Finally she offered him marijuana, pushing her own body against him as persuasion, and he gave in, accepted the lit roll of marijuana he was given. Well, let's just say that after a month of smoking this stuff constantly, my father hand another addiction that took another effect on him, making him higher than a kite. After his first month, he tried to get me to have some as well, but I would say no and try to leave. It does not help having a father who is stronger than you when you want to leave through. So one day, when he finally had enough of pointless persuasion and beatings following that, he pinned me down onto the couch and took a long drag of his fag and shot gunned it to me. But instead of having the gap and pushing the smoke into my mouth, he nearly sealed his lips over mine. Well, that one action lead to...other things." Ryou turned to look at Amane for the first time since he continued his tale. She was staring at him in shock, quietly shaking her head, hoping the next words out of the tattoo artist's mouth were not what she was thinking.

"Would you like me to stop Amane? It is ok if you say yes because the next part may be unnecessarily graphic." Ryou stated in a soothing, calm voice, but was surprised when the younger shook her head frantically, urging him to go on. "If you are sure. But to answer your thoughts, yes, I was sexually abused. Since I did not hit puberty yet, it was mainly my father kissing me without my consent or have me disrobe in front of him as he jacks off, sometimes me doing it for him or giving him a BJ. But once the summer came when I was twelve, I finally hit puberty and two months following, my dad raped me as well as multiple times following that. I am just glad that out of his endeavors in life he did not contract any STD's that he could have given to me.

"Now, I have not brought up Bakura in a while because he disappeared from the picture since I did not return school with the students after winter break that summer because of my father's escapades, not to forget that I was emotionally unstable. I did not like people touching because of my father's actions, who would? Anyway, back on track, after the having not seen me for the whole break and the first quarter of school, Bakura finally went to the teachers and his parents that something was wrong. Eventually they came to our house with the police, mid secession with my father and he was arrested on the spot. All I remember after that was being covered up with a blanket by a teacher, being taken to a hospital to see if I was injured or had any STD's at the time, and Bakura meeting me after I was taken care of." Ryou rested a hand over his face and brought it up through his hair, letting out a deep breath of air he had been holding. "I must have been thirteen then. God I was so emotionally unstable. I would not let anyone touch me, not even Bakura or my own mother who came all the way from the UK to see me after she heard from the teachers of what happened. I refused to talk most of the time, but they were patient. I found out that my mum had graduated school in the time where we went dark on each other after Christmas and that she was moving to Japan with the money she made as a chef as a nice restaurant. She already had a job lined up here and everything so that when she came, she would not have to worry about leaving me alone or ripping me away from my friend.

"I remember Bakura promising me that, when I was ready for personal contact again, that he would give me a hug, at least once a week, no matter if he had to drive a day's journey or walk five yards. And he has kept this promise since I was sixteen after I started talking again, three years after everything that had happened. Eventually, when I believed I was ready, I moved out into this apartment to go to college, but my mum was still worried about me alone, even if I have Bakura as my neighbor. So, after living here for about a couple months and getting settles, I found this little rascal pouncing on me as a puppy." As Ryou spoke about Zora, He bend down and kissed the top of her head before scratching her behind the ears. "Mum knew I would need someone there for me at home since no one will be here waiting for me if I have a bad moment. And you know what? She was right, if I did not have Zora, I would still be a mess." Ryou chuckled and rested his head on Zora's head, nuzzling her furry head with his forehead.

Amane smiled at Ryou's actions before an inquisitive look over took her face. "Wait, but what about your mum. Do you still see her even though you are out of her house?"

Ryou smiled brightly at Amane, nodding his head only once. "Yup, I still have dinner with my mum about three or five times a week. Each time I would get there early and spend our time together learning new things to cook for dinner with her new fiancé Nikki." Ryou chucked at Amane's look on her face. He did not think her eyebrows could shoot up that fast into her hair line. "Yeah, she was originally bi when she married my father. Anyway, I bring Bakura along with me all the time. Aside from my mum, he is one of the only people I willingly let touch me without my permission."

"Not even Akefia Ryou?" Amane questioned softly, though she fears she already knows the answer.

Ryou looked at Amane with a sad expression and gently shook his head. "Not even Akefia, I am sorry to say. At least, not at the current moment White Lily. It is true that I have made progress as the years went by, but I will honestly never be the same as I would have been. Whenever someone bumps into me, I will flinch away as if I have been burned. Is someone grabs me, especially the shoulder or upper arm, I will go into a panic attack because I think my father is going to touch me again." A frustrated sigh rang through the dwelling as a pale hand ran through white locks. "Even after he first asked me out, I had to force myself to stay calm and give him the kiss on the cheek. It was not because I didn't want to, don't get me wrong, but that I was afraid to and I ran all the way back home because a flash back was coming on and I did not want him to see me freak out." Ryou covered his face with both of his pale hands in frustration.

Amane looked at Ryou again, taking in his whole appearance, reading his body language. Her eyes filled with empathy rather than sympathy at the sight, thinking over all the abuse and trauma he must have gone through. After a few minutes of silence, Amane finally spoke up. "I am sorry for what happened to you Ryou. I have no words for what you had to go through those years ago, and I don't think I ever will understand because I believe honesty that I won't go through something remotely that traumatizing. And I don't mean for this to sound rude at all, but I am glad you went through what you did." Ryou's face spun towards her quickly with a confused look fused into his features. Amane immediately took in what she said and quickly brought both hands up in front of her, shaking them side to side in negation. "Wait! Let me explain. What I meant was that if you never went through what you did, I would never have met you today and learned your story and you might even be back in Europe for all I know."

Ryou pondered the teen's reasoning before pursing his lips into an accepting frown and nodded his head. "Alright, I guess that makes sense." Ryou immediately raised from his position on the ground, Zora standing along with him and hopped onto the couch and snuggled up to Amane, who giggled in return, petting the big furry head. He grabbed the two empty mugs and proceeded to the Kitchen unit in his apartment, leaving behind the biscuit cookies for Amane to snack on. As he set the two containers into the basin of the sink, he cast his eyes towards the digital clock on the microwave which read that is was six in the evening. Leaving the mugs for later, Ryou made his way to the fridge, opening the container and peering inside inquisitively. "Hey White Lily, are you hungry?" Ryou shouted over his shoulder, not bothering to tear his gaze away from the contents inside.

The white haired girl looked up from her affection towards Zora towards the kitchen unit. "I wasn't able to order anything filling at the cafe, so yes, food sounds lovely." Amane gently laid Zora's head on the couch as she raised from her position and made her way to the kitchen unit. Amane reached to tap the pale Man's shoulder before she remembered what he told her. She smoothly shifted her hand to tap one of the jars of sauce near Ryou's face, effectively gaining the young man's attention. "Can I help with anything, Ryou?"

Ryou was not only genuinely surprised by the question, but by the fact that Amane took him into consideration and tried to get his attention in a means rather than physical contact with his person. A small smile graced Ryou's face as he nodded in confirmation, finding his voice soon after. "Of course you can help, Amane." Turning back to the storage device, he pulled out two paper wrapped packages of meat and set them on the counter. Ryou then pulled out jars of dark sauces as well as, spices, celery, carrots, and onion before he turned back to Amane. "Well, I guess first you can wash your hands before you do anything, but after that, can you wash the vegetables and peel the carrots as I cut up the meat." Ryou set the ingredients on the counter before he walked to one of the drawers next to the sink basin and opened it quickly. After searching for a few moments, he retracts his hands with not only a peeler, but also a knife Amane guess was used to cut the meat. Ryou set the two objects down before closing the drawer he was just in and opened the cabinet right under it, proceeding to extract two cutting boards. After setting one board down onto the table, he picked up the peeler and set it onto of the second board and turned to Amane. "Now, I trust you will be careful using this, alright? It may be easy to use, but you can still hurt yourself with its sharp edge."

As Ryou handed over the peeler, Amane gazed at it with suspicion before looking back up at Ryou with a small smirk on her face. "You cut yourself with this when you were peeling too fast didn't you?"

The right eye of the white haired twitched as he stared at the younger girl. "And here I questioned how a sweet girl like you could be related to Akefia. I can see the resemblance now." Ryou then proceeded turn on the faucet and scrubbed his hands clean before turning to the presents, unwrapping the cuts of meat from their packages. He quickly cleaned them in the sink before setting them down onto his own cutting board, continuing to cut the meat how he preferred. Amane took note that the man somehow answered his question with lack there of one as she turned on the water in the sink to wash her hands and the vegetables following that.

As the two began to start their work, they fell into a comfortable silence. As time passed, Amane found out that Ryou was making a stew for the two of them, but there was more than enough to serve at least three more servings. Their comfortable atmosphere was soon broken by the older of the two as he placed the rest of the chopped vegetables and meat into a large pot on the stove. He placed a glass lid on top of the metal container before he turned back to the refrigerator, opening the freezer and taking out handmade balls of dough that Amane suspects to be dinner rolls. "Hey White Lily, who was that person you were talking to at the cafe when you disappeared?" As Ryou finished placing the balls of dough onto a metal pan, he set the oven to the correct temperature for cooking dough and turned back to Amane. But he was not expecting to come upon the sight of Amane stuttering to find her words as a small blush clung to her cheeks. Ryou's mouth crept into a smirk of his own as he poked the teenage girl on the nose with the handle of a wooden spoon he uses to stir the stew. "Does someone have a crush?" Ryou's question was confirmed when the girl's peach blush spread to the whole of her face. "Aww, that is so adorable." Ryou raised a hand and rubbed it on Amane's head affectionately. Ryou then proceeded to place turn back to the oven when it was at the appropriate heat before putting in the rolls. Ryou then turned back to the teenage girl who now took a seat at his small table that comfortably seats four people. Ryou smiled at her and joined her at the table. "So what is their name, is she older, same age, or younger than you, and on a scale to 'aww' to 'drop dead hot' how cute is she?" The Albino male chuckled softly as the girl's face stared at him in shock at his bluntness, not to mention that he willingly came in physical contact with her.

Amane briefly shook off her shock, trying to compose herself. "W-well, her name in Kawai Shizuka, and she is a grade above me." Amane pouted as the male in front of her let out a sassy ' _ooo~'_ before letting her continue. As Amane was speaking, Ryou got back up and placed the rest of the meat in a large pot of broth and vegetables. "Anyway, for your last question...umm…" A deep blush suddenly consumed the young girl's face as she spouted out her answer, "she is like a hot Lolita to me."

Ryou just stared at the girl for a few more moments before a loud coo resonated from his mouth. Just as he goes to comment, the sound of a door bell me the ears of the three occupants. Zora immediately got up and raced to the door, with Ryou not far behind. "This is not over, White lily." Ryou said very his shoulder as Zora began to bark louder. "One second! ZORA RELINQUO!" the Albino called, brushing Zora out of the way. He watched her whine as she shuffled off to the sitting area, jump onto the couch, staring at him with a pout. "Don't you give me that look!" Ryou chastised as he opened his front door. "What can I do- OH PISS OFF YOU WANKERS!" Amane jumped at the sudden change of not only tone, but volume as well. When she looked over to see what the commotion was all about, she was surprised to see Ryou pushing against his front door with all his might, while another strained voice drifted through the adjacent crack seems to be the well of force trying to come in.

"Come on Ryou! Just let us in, we promise to behave!" The voice was low yet held a strained childish whine that seemed out of place. Deciding to investigate further, Amane quietly approached the front door and fluttering through the gap in between the threshold and the door was long spiky white hair that Amane guessed belonged to none other than Bakura since her brother never had hair that long.

"Bugger off Bakura! I am not in the mood!" Ryou shouted back, giving the metal door a good shove.

"Well how about I am! Just let me in!" Bakura gave a rough shove of his own, but Ryou didn't seem to be affected at all by it.

"How about no! I am cooking right now and I swear to whatever god you or anyone else in the apartment building worships that if you make me burn my dinner rolls, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY and you my good man, WOULD HAVE THE PAYMENT OF VERY SORE GENITALS!" The look on Ryou's face had Amane torn between whether to fear him or laugh at him. Though the scowl on his usually passive face was quite frightening, the fact that his face had turned bright red from all the yelling coupled with his insults made him look quite comedic.

"Sore genitals?" Another voice came fluttering the door that both occupants immediately recognized to be Akefia.

"It was ONE TIME! I said I was sorry!" Bakura shouted again, ignoring Akefia's statement all together.

"Agh, I don't have time for this. ZORA! IT IS ANCILLA!" The dog in question sprung up from her position on the couch and bolted towards the door, barking aggressively. Just as Zora reached the entrance, she pushed her front two paws onto the door, effectively closing it when Bakura not only let up in fright, but could not hold both the dog's weight and Ryou's strength combined. Ryou immediately locked the door and bolted himself in as fast as he could.

"Wait a minute, DID YOU JUST CALL ME A SLAVE WOMAN IN LATIN AS A COMMAND FOR YOU DOG!?" Bakura's voice fluttered angrily through the door, obviously having never heard the command before.

Ryou chuckled as he rubbed Zora's head affectionately. "You bet your white ass I did!" Ryou immediately walked away from the door and back into the kitchen, just as the timer was going off for the dinner rolls. As Ryou crouched down the pull the rolls out, Amane just stared at him from her place in the hall, though she was snapped into reality when Ryou's voice met her ears. "Hey White Lily, could you be a lamb and reach in the dog tin on the counter and give Zora a treat." The pale girls nodded and walked into the kitchen unit again, reaching into a small tin with dog boned on it. She opened the lid and pulled out what looked to be dried jerky. Thumping was hear and before Amane knew it, Zora was at her side, the pupils of her baby blue eyes grew big, begging for the treat. Amane giggled before handing over the treat, which Zora snatched and ran into the sitting room once again only to scarf it down.

"Hey Ryou" Amane spoke up softly, though it easily met his ears for his head quickly snapped to her, eyes wide, eyebrows raised. "Why did you make so much food if we are going to be the only one's eating it?"

Ryou blinked, before letting out a soft sigh, his left hand reaching up to his multi pierced ears, constantly alternating between turning the rings in circled and twirling the dangling earrings. "Well, I kind of wanted to invite mum and her girlfriend over last minute with everything having happened, but I have a feeling you want the two nutcases next door to come over."

Amane gave Ryou a sheepish nod, a pale hand reading into her white hair and twirling a white curl that fell out of place. "Yeah. Well, we have so much food. Plus it would give us a chance to patch things up...or at least break the ice and transverse back into some form of casual normalcy. Come on, do it for Zora." As Amane spoke, she had moved to the sitting area and sat next to Zora, resting her head on the large Dog's own.

Ryou stared at the pair, distraught written on his face. When he saw that Zora, whom was now staring at him with a pleading look, no matter if she wanted something else from him entirely, did not help the situation. As Ryou looked away from the duo so that he could add some more spices to his stew, the young teen finally got her answer. "You are going to be the death of me White Lily, I hope you know that." The girl squealed in excitement as she sprung up to give Ryou a hug, but she had to stop her own rash and expressive behavior again before she lost the trust she had already gained.

But to her surprise, she felt two shaking arms wrap around her, one on the small of her back, the other on her head, tucking it under the elder's chin. "I-It's alright if I initiate the contact, ok? I saw your actions and I appreciate your gesture, yet you held off." Ryou felt the small girl nod against his collarbone, her small arms wrapping themselves around the middle of his back gently squeezing him in return. As the two drew back, Ryou ruffled the girl's hair, before turning back to his stew, adding a few spices here and there "If you could set the table that would be nice of you. The bowls are in the last cabinet and the spoons are in the drawer underneath it." Amane smiled, nodding at him in confirmation before searching through the cabinets to set the kitchen table for four people. As soon as Amane was finished with her work, Ryou pulled out a large spoon and dished some of his soup onto a tasting saucer and brought it to his lips, but instead of a satisfied smile, they puckered in confusion before soft muttering could be heard within the small unit. "I will be right back."

As Ryou said this, he went over to the joining doors and pushed the chest of drawers out of the way before heading back to the kitchen. He pulled out two more tasting saucers and placed the stew onto each plate. As Ryou made his way back to the door, he turned to the white haired teen with a pout of frustration. "White Lily, could you please open my side of the door and knock on the next one if it is closed?" The girl nodded and walked in front of Ryou, lowering her eyed in content as she gently opening the first door. She raised her small hand to knock on the next door, but all that was met was cool air and the sounds of grunts.

Both occupants of the original dwelling widened drastically as they looked at each other before peering into the foreign room. Within the new territory were two white haired men, currently in the midst of an arm wrestling contest. East opponent was respectfully throwing out insults and curses at the other in defense of previous unattainable comments.

Ryou set down the two saucers in his hands, before moving them to seal over Amane's ears. Both men looked up from their struggle just in time to see Ryou's fierce glare, to hear his next statement. "Would you two stop your stupid contest, there is a young girl in your presence." Both men just stared in confusion, neither breaking their grip on the other's hand as the fight continued. When Ryou released Amane's ears, he reached back into his apartment and grabbed the saucers once more. As he reentered the dwelling, a soft thud was heard as well as a growl of frustration resonating from Akefia.

"How the He-" A sharp cough stopped the tan man's words, quickly rephrasing them so no to anger his boyfriend anymore. "Heck, I mean to say heck! How the heck did you beat me?! I was so close!" Akefia ran a frustrated hand through his hair as a pout took hold of his face.

"Your muscles may be bulky, but my arms have tight coils running through them. Haven't you heard the phrase, 'people grow up, not show up.'?" Bakura raised an inquisitive figure in the air, as one would see a solar preform out of habit.

Akefia stared at Bakura in thought, wondering who he heard the phrase from before. Something clicked in his mind as he recalled the phrasing being used by some of his friends in another meaning. (3) "Actually, I think that phrase is used for something else entirely."

Ryou groaned before raising his voice yet again. "We are not having this conversation now. Change of topic, Bakura and either sibling, I need you to taste this and tell me if it under seasoned just right or over seasoned." The tattoo artist held the two lukewarm saucers with outstretched hands, urging for at least someone to take a saucer. Bakura, being used to the behavior, stood up with a grin and took the saucer in his right hand, bringing it to his lips in one fluid movement. The two siblings looked at each other and shrugged, silently deciding that Akefia would be the one who would taste the unknown substance. He too brought the saucer to his lips, tilting his head back as he consumed half of the food, an array of flavors meeting his taste buds.

"Wow, this is really good Ryou!" Akefia exclaimed as he handed the saucer to his sibling, letting her have a taste as well before the dinner itself was served.

"Yes, but the seasoning, over or under. I like the compliment, but it is not what I am necessarily looking for." Ryou growled in frustration, wanting some kind of feedback that he knew only Bakura and his mother could truly give.

As Amane brought the saucer to her light pink like, Bakura finished tasting the stew and gave Ryou his critique. "As far as I know, it tastes wonderful yet again. But I have to say that is missing...something."

One of Ryou's pale hands shot up from its spot at his side to his head, embedding the digits into 'his white locks. "Yes but WHAT SPICE! Cinnamon? Oregano? Basil? Black pepper? Paprika? WHAT STUPID SPICE!?" Ryou detached his hands from his head only to latch onto Bakura's shoulders. He shook the poor man towards him and away from his in his frustration before he was interrupted be a feminine voice.

"Rosemary...and a little bit of parsley, I believe." Amane stated in a shy, uncertain voice. She saw Ryou ponder on the matter for a while before a surprised expression took over his face, only to morph into one of pure glee. In an instant she felt Ryou take her hands into his, gently shaking them up and down.

"That's it White Lily, THAT IT! If I weren't gay and your age I would kiss you right now!" Ryou took the small tasting saucers from the two other albino's hands before sprinting back into his own accommodation so that he may finish his work.

But before he could continue, Akefia stopped him in the kitchen and gave him a guilty look. "Hey Ryou, I am sorry for what happened back at the cafe. I didn't mean for things to get out of hand or force you into do things that you were not quite ready for. Bakura told me a fragment of your past about your things with personal contact, and I just wanted to say sorry before I fuck up this apology even more."

Ryou looked up at him with a small smile before he rested a pale hand on the right side of his face, his longs digits rubbing against his scar. "Everyone has old wounds they need to learn to live with. I am just happy you understand that this little 'tick' of mine is not something you can tell another person to get over or of the sort. So yes, I accept your quote un quote apology you 'fucked up.'" Ryou let out a small giggle and gave Akefia's cheek a pat before going back to his food.

Back in Bakura's apartment, the two remaining albinos waited near the threshold, listening in of the two lover's moment as they waited for an appropriate time to return. Amane decided to leave Bakura some of his dignity when she left her comment on his jealous pout go unspoken. She waved for the man to follow her into the adjacent apartment for dinner, and he did. Just as they were entering, they saw Ryou smirk in satisfaction just as he brought a white dish away from his mouth, mumbling about the broth being 'much better.' As everyone took their seats at the table, Ryou filled each bowl with a helpful serving of he joined everyone at the table, he placed a basket of rolls in the center of the table with a large pitcher of water beside it. Ryou glanced at everyone and clasped his hands together, saying grace.

"My, My Ryou. I must say, this spread is quite Posh." Bakura complimented as he spooned himself a mouthful of stew. A satisfied grin morphed his lips unconsciously as he continued to feed himself spoon full after spoon full.

Akefia, deciding the make conversation, looked towards Bakura with an inquisitive expression etched into his face. "Excuse me, but Posh? That seems like a negative connotation to me." Akefia stared at Bakura as he too spooned himself large spoon full of the flavor filled dinner.

Bakura stopped the motion of his hand, hot liquid spilling out of the spoons belly. Ryou looked over the table at Bakura with a concerned expression as he covered the right half of his face with his pale hand. Amane just stared at the two, albino's wondering what expectancy was going through each of their respective brains. The answer was soon me as the sound of flesh against flesh resonating throughout Ryou's the small yet humble abode. Bakura was staring at a shocked Akefia with an incredulous expression spread across his pale face. Across his pale forehead was his pale hand, palm facing towards the skin on his forehead. Bakura dragged his hand down his face in frustration as he opened his mouth, his voice bored and monotone. "Posh is a British term used to describe things as being elegant or luxurious. Reason being is that Ryou is using his good bowls rather than the plastic ones." Bakura removed his hand entirely from his face and turned to the Tenant of the apartment. "Ryou, does this happen to you at all?" The man in question moved his shoulders up and down in a silent confirmation before going back to his food.

Akefia growled as he too turned back to his food, muttering under his breath. "Well excuse me princess for not growing up with a British background." A silence fell over the table as Amane, the only one who is focusing on what is going on around her, noticed Bakura pick up his spoon and picked up a little bit of stew. Just as he began to aim his arsenal at the tan man next to him, Amane got Ryou's attention by tapping the edge of his bowl with the handle of her spoon, only to point it in Bakura's direction. The expression on Ryou's red face was one akin to a raging bull.

"Bakura. If you even think about making a mess of my stew in my house, I will binge watch Jessica Jones without you!" At the small harmless threat, Bakura quickly stuck the spoon into his mouth, eating the meat and liquid it held. "See, was that so hard?" Bakura gave Ryou the bird in response to his snide comment in Bakura got a well-deserved flick to the head. "Manners Bakura!"

The rest of the night consisted of small talk between the four, slightly raised voiced when particularly harsh comments were directed towards them, Ryou giving each respecting manner a swat on the head, and all four helping Ryou wash the dishes. The two siblings and the white haired neighbor bid Ryou farewell when the moon was able to be found high in the air as they made their ways back to their respective homes. Ryou changed into his sleep ware before he laid himself in his twin sized bed.

Ryou let a smile grace his lips as he thought back on today. Though it did not go exactly as planned, it still turned out well in the end. As he submitted his consciousness to the void of sleep, his final thoughts went out to the three white haired men and woman, affection flooding his mind before everything went blank.

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SQUIGGLES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

 **(1) This is a similar trait I decided to share with Amane. Though she has an easier time conversing with strangers of friends of the same gender, there is still difficulty forming sentences or even keeping conversations. This does not mean that it contradictions Amane's feelings towards Serenity, oh no. Though she may be nervous around the male gender and it can often be confused with liking men, in my vision she is lesbian through and through who just has trouble with public speaking.**

 **(2) If you would like me to give a further detailed explanation, I will gladly PM you or come back later in the Authors not to place a description.**

 **(3) Ok, some friends of mine were watching Hetalia one day and this joke came up, so I went with that context as it may seem sexual. Personally alone it sounds innocent, but then again I can have trouble identifying innuendos.**

 **I DID IT! I ACTUALLY DID IT! GOSH DAMN THIS UPDATE IS SO F***ING LONG! I don't know whether to cry to feel VERY frustrated.**

 **THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! I WILL COME BACK AND EDIT THIS LATER BUT FOR NOT I AM GOING TO BE POSTING IT! Please excuse any repetitive phrases, grammar and spelling mistakes. I will fix those later.**


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